Thanks to an increase over the first quarter of four tenths of a percentage point, the annual growth of Italian GDP rose to 1,5 per cent in the second quarter of 2017 compared to 1,2 per cent in the first quarter. This is the highest value in the last six years. With the data for Q2 2017, the growth trend in Italy returns to the values prior to the crisis of sovereign risks.
The figure for the second quarter marks a further significant reduction in the growth gap between Italy and the euro area. One year ago, in the second quarter of 2016, the growth rate of the Italian GDP was equal to half that of the Monetary Union (+0,8% against +1,7%): in the second quarter of this year the growth Italy has risen to two thirds of that of the euro area.
Details on the dynamics of the aggregate demand-side components of Italian GDP during the second quarter will be released on 2017 September. While awaiting these data, it can be observed that the increase in the annual rate of development of the Italian gross domestic product in the second quarter is associated with the positive trend in industrial production which in June 5,3 marked an annual increase of double the amount recorded from the Euro area as a whole: +2,6% in Italy against +XNUMX% in the Eurozone.
The results of the Italian GDP in the second quarter confirm and reinforce the signs of recovery of the Italian economy. Nonetheless, the path to recovering the growth gap accumulated in the past still appears to be long. In mid-2017, the volume of GDP in Italy still remained two percentage points lower than that recorded in mid-2011 and six points lower than the figure for the beginning of 2008 on the eve of the first of the two major recessions suffered by the economy nationwide over the last decade.
For Italy, as for other countries, the biggest challenge remains that of translating the acceleration of GDP into a more marked reduction in unemployment. Between June 2016 and June 2017, the unemployment rate fell from 11,7% to 11,1% in Italy and from 10,1 to 9,1% in the euro area average. Ten years ago, before the crisis and the recessions, the unemployment rate amounted to just 6 percent in Italy and 7,5 percent on average for the eurozone.
For Italy, as for other countries, it will now be important to continue along the path of reforms and concrete actions aimed at improving competitiveness and strengthening the revival of investments. Going this route, making the consolidation of the recovery and the revival of employment compatible is not impossible. This is demonstrated by the example of Germany, where the unemployment rate in June 2017 fell to 3,8%, the lowest since the beginning of the century.
The GDP data for the second quarter confirm the image of an Italy which is constantly reducing the growth gap between us and the rest of the monetary union. The Italian run-up is accompanied by a limited creation of new public and private debt. With a public deficit-to-GDP ratio about a third lower than that of Spain and France and a ratio between non-financial company debts and gross product standing at 82% against the Eurozone average of 108%, the recovery of the Italian economy more than others is sober in feeding on new debts. Knowing how to grow with little help: for a long time a constraint, now it could become a distinctive quality in the recovery of the Italian economy.
