ROME (ITALPRESS) – In February 2025, Istat estimates an increase in consumer confidence (from 98.2 to 98.8) while the composite indicator of business confidence drops from 95.7 to 94.8.Among consumers, there is an improvement in opinions on personal, current and future situation while assessments of the general economic situation worsen: personal climate increases from 97.1 to 98.3, current climate rises from 99.8 to 100.5, and future climate rises from 96.1 to 96.6; on the other hand, economic climate decreases from 101.3 to 100.2.With reference to businesses, the confidence index increases slightly only in manufacturing (from 86.8 to 87.0) while it decreases in the other three industries surveyed (in construction, the index falls from 104.2 to 103.4, in market services it drops from 99.0 to 97.5, and in retail trade it decreases from 106.3 to 104.0).As for the components of the confidence indexes, in manufacturing, judgments on orders improve, inventories are judged stable and production expectations are down; in construction and market services, all components show negative dynamics. As for retail trade, judgments and expectations on sales are marked by pessimism while the balance of judgments on inventories decreases. “In February 2025, the business confidence index decreases by almost one percentage point, signaling a worsening in all the surveyed sectors except for manufacturing where it increases slightly,” Istat comments. The increase in consumer confidence is driven by improving evaluations especially on the personal economic situation; decidedly positive dynamics also for the balance of judgments on the opportunity to make purchases of durable goods in the current phase.”
– IPA Agency Photos –
(ITALPRESS).
