Incomes are at a standstill, savings and purchasing power are declining. This was communicated by Istat in its latest report, specifying that in the period January-March the propensity to save of households, understood as the ratio between the gross savings of households and their disposable income, was equal to 11,5%, in down 0,9 percentage points from the previous quarter, but up 0,1% from the first quarter of 2010.
The decline in the propensity to save, explains the Institute, is the result of a "stasis in disposable income, which is accompanied by a positive trend (+0,9%) in final consumption expenditure expressed in current values". Compared to the first quarter of 2010, on the other hand, household disposable income in current values increased by 3,3%, against a 3,1% growth in household expenditure for final consumption.
The household investment rate stood at 2011% in the first quarter of 9, up by 0,1 percentage points compared to the previous quarter and by 0,2 percentage points compared to the January-March period of 2010. As regards purchase, adjusted for inflation, decreased by 0,8% compared to the last three months of last year, but increased by 1,1% compared to the first three months of 2010.
