Italian families are tightening their belts. Istat has communicated the data relating to the purchasing power and savings of households, which highlight the effects of the crisis on the real economy. The purchasing power of Italian families decreased in the third quarter of 2011.
Il real disposable income it decreased by 0,3% compared to the period from April to June 2011 and by 0,1% compared to the third quarter of last year. There propensity to save it dropped slightly, settling at 11,6%, 0,1% less in both the economic and trend analysis.
The limited drop in savings is due to a growth in disposable income (purchasing power not normalized to inflation) which in the period from September 2010 to September 2011 grew by 2,7%.
This explains the growth in consumption which can be quantified at 0,4% in the period under consideration. The investments however, they recorded a decrease of 0,3%.
