After contracting by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of 2022, the Italian economy might avoid a temporary technical recession in the first quarter of 2023. Today’s release of March confidence data, of both consumers and businesses, provides additional tentative evidence of a broad-based improvement in the economic sentiment, possibly due to falling gas prices.

Consumers less worried by unemployment but see less room to save
Consumer confidence increased for the second consecutive month, almost closing the gap with pre-pandemic levels. Households are more confident about the current economic situation and its future evolution, and are consistently less worried about future unemployment, but are less convinced about current and prospective possibilities to save.