Surprise, Italy grows more than expected. Istat has announced that it has revised upwards GDP growth in the first quarter of 2017. The gross domestic product is in fact increased by 0,4% compared to the previous quarter and by 1,2% compared to the first quarter of 2016 This is the highest level since 2010. The preliminary estimate released on May 16th had revealed a cyclical increase of 0,2% and a trend increase of 0,8%. The first quarter of 2017 had two working days more than both the previous quarter and the first quarter of 2016.
In the first quarter, compared to the previous quarter, Istat points out, the main aggregates of national demand recorded a 0,5% growth in national final consumption and a 0,8% drop in gross fixed investments. Imports increased by 1,6% and exports by 0,7%. National demand net of inventories contributed 0,3 percentage points to GDP growth (0,3 for household consumption and Private Social Institutions (Isp), 0,1 for Public Administration (Pa) spending and -0,1 ,0,4 gross fixed investments). The change in inventories also contributed positively to the change in GDP (0,2 percentage points), while the contribution of net foreign demand was negative by 4,2 percentage points. Istat reports positive economic trends for the added value of agriculture (+0,6%) and services (+0,3%), while that of industry is negative (-XNUMX%).
