The Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat) said, in 2019, GDP is expected to increase by 0.3 percent in real terms.The domestic demand will provide a contribution of 0.3 percentage points while foreign demand and inventories will provide a null contribution.

In 2019, exports will increase by 1.7 percent and imports will grow by 1.8 percent. Residential households consumption expenditure is expected to grow by 0.5 percent in 2019. The stabilisation in employment and the wages increase will support households purchasing power. Investment are expected to decelerate (+0.3%).

Labour market conditions will stabilize over the forecasting period. Employment growth is expected to increase at 0,1 percent in 2019. At the same time, the rate of unemployment will slightly increase at 10.8 percent in the current year.