Italian Industrial Output Complicates Government Budget Work
(Bloomberg) -- Italy's industrial production slowed to the lowest annual pace in more than a year in a setback for the government's populist program.
Output increased 1.7 percent in June from a year earlier when adjusted for working days, the weakest since April 2017, national statistics institute Istat said Friday in Rome. The median estimate of six analysts in a Bloomberg survey called for a 1.5 percent annual rise in June. Industrial production rose 0.5 percent in June compared with the previous month.
Pharmaceuticals and transportation led the June increase, Istat said.
Italy's gross domestic product expanded 0.2 percent in the three months through June, down from 0.3 percent in the first quarter, Istat said Tuesday. The latest reading is the weakest pace in almost two years.
Italy is still trailing behind the euro area as a whole, which itself slowed to 0.3 percent growth in the second quarter.
Political leaders were scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. Friday in Rome, in the first top-level look at next year's budget, newspaper La Stampa reported. Finance Minister Giovanni Tria has promised to stay within European Union budget rules, while coalition partners the League and Five Star Movement are pushing for lower taxes and financial help for the poor.
Istat said in a separate, monthly note it sees a continuing slowdown in the country's economic growth, reflecting lower net exports.
Italy's draft budget plan is due in Brussels by mid-October for a review by the European Union.
In another potential trouble spot, Istat said the Italian unemployment rate rose to 10.9 percent in June from 10.7 percent the month before.
Italy's economy expanded 1.5 percent last year, the most since 2010. That is expected to slow to 1.3 percent for the full year 2018.
--With assistance from Andre Tartar.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kevin Costelloe in Rome at kcostelloe@bloomberg.net;Giovanni Salzano in Rome at gsalzano@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
