Italy in economic recovery.

According to data released today by Istat, GDP in the first quarter of 2023 rose by 0.5% on the previous quarter and by 1.8% on an annual basis.

"After the slight economic downturn of the last quarter of 2022, the recovery at the beginning of 2023 envisages an acquired GDP growth rate for 2023 estimated at 0.8%", says the Institute of Statistics.

GDP is also rising in the EU. In the first quarter +0.1% in the Eurozone and +0.3% in the whole Union, with Italy in second place for growth.

"Responsible ambition pays off. Allegations are answered by facts", commented Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti. "In the Chamber with the Def it went well but outside the Chamber, where we work and produce, it went even better," he added.

LaPresse

The Minister of Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti

"Encouraging data", said the European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, at the press conference at the end of the Eurogroup. "Among the largest economies in the EU, better-than-expected results were recorded above all for Italy and Spain, at 0.5%. This is therefore encouraging news, showing a European economy that continues to show resilience in a difficult global environment".

To dampen the enthusiasm on the GDP data comes the comment of the president of M5S, Giuseppe Conte: "I saw that Minister Giorgetti, after yesterday's humiliation, today has even launched hoping for a toast, but you can not make a toast with sparkling wine bought by others", he said in Ivrea, where he is to support the mayoral candidate Matteo Chiantore.

"You will see that we forget these numbers, look at them now because unfortunately, and I say this as an Italian citizen I am very worried, we will forget these numbers with their budget maneuvers", Conte added.

Concerns also from consumer associations. "Miserable data! We are just above zero compared to the previous quarter. Of course, given that the Government is content at the end of the year to have a GDP growth of 1%, with just 0.1 percentage points more between the trend scenario and the programmatic one, considering that the variation acquired for 2023 is already equal to 0.8%, the goal cannot fail to be reached even in the worst possible scenario imaginable. It is, however, an easy task, unpretentious, which would be able to perform even the most donkey schoolboy in the class" says Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumers Union.