ITALY

摘要

The Italian economy remained in a fragile state in Q3, expanding by only 0.2% (q-o-q), marking a deceleration from the 0.5% growth rate seen in the previous quarter. News of the slowdown has come on the back of newfound weakness in the manufacturing sector as export demand eased recently. Furthermore, the November PMI for manufacturing edged down from 53.0 in Octoberto 52.0, well below the Euro zone average and indicative of further struggles ahead. Meanwhile, the services sector appears to have received a boost, with the PMI rising from 51.0 in October to 54.4 in November as consumer and retailer confidence rises. This comes despite the unemployment rate escalating from 8.3% in September to 8.6% in October.