Italian employers group Confindustria on Wednesday maintained its forecast for Italy's economic growth this year, but predicted faster-than-expected output in 2018. However, Confindustria said the country continued to lag most of its euro zone peers, and saw growth slowing in 2019.
Confindustria forecast gross domestic product (GDP) would rise 1.5 percent this year, unchanged from its last estimate in September. It raised the 2018 forecast to 1.5 percent from a previous 1.3 percent, and saw 2019 growth at 1.2 percent. The government has forecast growth of 1.5 percent in 2017, 2018 and 2019.
The Italian economy has been picking up since the end of last year and the recovery is looking increasingly solid, supported by job growth and buoyant business sentiment. "However, the gap between Italian economic growth and that of other European nations remains wide," Confindustria said in a regular report on the state of the economy, adding that more reforms were needed to make Italy more competitive.
Confindustria lowered its forecast for Italy's huge public debt - the highest in the euro zone after Greece's - to 131.6 percent of GDP this year from a September forecast of 132.6 percent. It saw the ratio dropping to 130.5 percent in 2018 and 129.6 percent in 2019. It confirmed its forecast for the 2017 budget deficit at 2.1 percent of GDP and saw this falling to 1.7 percent next year before climbing again in 2019 to 1.9 percent.