"In Italians there is a strong contradiction between private behavior and the approach to the question of public finances: a squint that distorts the perception of reality". This was stated by Nando Pagnoncelli, managing director of Ipsos, presenting in Rome the new edition of the survey on "Italians and savings", carried out by the institute together with ACRI on the occasion of the 94th World Savings Day.
Faced with a still high propensity to save (this year 39% of people managed to put money aside, up from 37% in 2017), Italians "demonstrate widespread leniency on exceeding the deficit threshold" continues Pagnoncelli.
The reason? According to the number one of Ipsos, “the markets are perceived as an external and enemy entity mainly because in our country the skills on financial issues are very low. Only one out of four Italians is able to give a correct definition of the spread, and this is why in people's minds there is no correlation between the spread and savings”.
ITALEXIT: 2 OUT OF 3 ITALIANS REFUSE IT. BUT THERE IS NO TRUST IN THE EU
And yet, the Italians also have a non-schematic, but articulated and problematic relationship with the European question. In fact, the Ipsos survey shows that our compatriots question the pro-European choice even less than in the past: two out of three (66%) reject the idea of Italiexit, against 61% last year. At the same time, however, the EU continues to divide Italians: 47% trust it, while 53% have little trust. In 2017, however, the majority of Italians (51%) still had faith in the European Union. Reverse path for the single currency: those dissatisfied with the euro were 74% in 2014 and 65% in 2017, while today they have fallen to 63%. “The impression – underlines Pagnoncelli – is that people usually give too hasty a reading of the relationship between Italians and Europe, which instead is more complex than one thinks”.
SAVINGS: THE IDEAL INVESTMENT NO LONGER EXISTS
As for the way in which Italians use their savings, according to the Ipsos survey almost two out of three people still prefer liquidity, but compared to last year those who choose to invest a part (albeit minimal) of their own have increased by 4% money. On this front, real estate security is now a thing of the past: today only 32% of Italians indicate the ideal investment in real estate, while 31% believe that financial investments are safer. Finally, 30% argue that the ideal investment does not exist at all.
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INTESA, GUZZETTI: "NO RISK OF CAPITAL INCREASE"
On the sidelines of the presentation of the report, the president of Acri and of the Cariplo Foundation, Giuseppe Guzzetti, said that he "sees no risk of capital increases" for Intesa Sanpaolo, despite the widening of the Btp-Bund spread devaluing government bonds in belly to Italian banks.
