They keep going down the consumption Italians. In April, the indicator developed by Confcommercio (Icc) scores a decrease of 3,9% on an annual basis and one of 0,1% compared to March, "confirming how the deterioration of the employment and income conditions of households is determining a dynamics of demand, in this first part of 2013, even more negative than that observed in the first months of 2012".
In the first four months of the year, according to the traders' association, the indicator recorded “a drop of 4,4%, compared with the 3,3% recorded in the same period last year. In terms of three-month moving average, the indicator corrected by seasonal factors signals a further decline”.
In April, explains Confcommercio, the trend dynamics of the consumption indicator “reflects a 2,2% decrease in the demand for services and a 4,6% decrease in spending on goods. All consumption functions showed a decrease in the volumes purchased by households”. Even goods and services for communications, "which in the previous months had signaled a certain dynamism, showed a limited drop in demand compared to the same month of 2012 (-0,1%)".
The most negative data “is still that relating to goods and services for mobility, the demand for which marks a contraction of 7,5% on an annual basis. Particularly significant reductions in consumption also involved clothing and footwear (-6,7%) and food, beverages and tobacco (-6,2%)”.
The seasonally adjusted data - underlines the study center - show a reduction of 0,1% in April compared to March. The contraction in real spending, “despite having taken on less intense tones in recent months than in the second half of 2012, does not show signs of a possible trend reversal in the short term. The gap with the pre-crisis volumes (last quarter of 2007) is now over 11 percentage points”.
In April in particular, “compared to an increase in demand for services (+0,5%), goods showed a decline of 0,4%. The most significant decreases are for goods and services for communications (-2,5%) and for goods and services for mobility (-1,5%). Only for recreational goods and services – concludes Confcommercio – is there an appreciable increase (+2%) on a cyclical basis”.
