The confidence of Italian companies rises to reach levels not seen for almost 10 years. According to Istat, in April the composite confidence climate index showed a significant increase, from 105,1 to 107,4, confirming an improvement trend underway for the fourth consecutive month. The latest recorded value is the highest since October 2007.
In companies "there is a widespread improvement in confidence - writes Istat - in the manufacturing sector the index increases from 107,2 to 107,9 (the highest value since January 2008) and in the construction sector it goes from 123,3 to 128,0 (highest since May 2008). In services, the climate rose from 106,4 to 107,8 and in retail trade it went from 108,8 to 110,8 (highest values, respectively, since January 2016 and December 2015).
As far as consumers are concerned, however, the index remains substantially stable, passing from 107,6 to 107,5. Istat notes that heterogeneous signals come from the individual components: the economic climate and the future one decrease, respectively, from 126,4 to 125,0 and from 111,6 to 110,1; conversely, personal climate increases from 101,0 to 101,5 and current climate increases from 104,5 to 105,6.
