Italian Industrial Production Unexpectedly Rises
Italian industrial production unexpectedly increased in November even as the government announced additional austerity measures that further eroded consumer demand.
Output (ITPRSANM) rose 0.3 percent from October, when it declined 0.9 percent, national statistics office Istat said today in Rome. Economists had expected a 0.2 percent drop, the median of 17 estimates in a Bloomberg News survey showed. Output decreased 4.1 percent from a year earlier on a workday-adjusted basis.
Prime Minister Mario Monti, the unelected premier who took over after Silvio Berlusconi’s resignation and pushed through budget cuts demanded by the European Union, is now focusing on a plan to spur the economy. Monti says boosting Italian growth, which has trailed the euro-area average for more than a decade, is the best way to trim the region’s second-biggest debt.
Monti has pledged to present his growth plan at a meeting of EU finance chiefs on Jan. 23. Italy’s $2.3 trillion economy will contract between 0.4 percent and 0.5 percent this year and remain flat in 2013, Deputy Finance Minister Vittorio Grilli said on Dec. 4.
The increase in production in November was led by chemicals, pharmaceuticals, food beverages and tobacco, Istat said. The yield on Italy’s 10-year bond was down 19 basis points at 6.79 percent at 9:44 a.m. Rome time before a planned auction of as much as 12 billion euros ($15 billion) of Italian bills.
Italian business confidence fell to the lowest in two years in December. Fiat SpA, Italy’s biggest manufacturer, suffered a 9.2 percent drop in its European car sales in November and the company has announced cuts in production-capacity to offset the slumping demand for its vehicles.
Monti pushed through a 30 billion-euro ($38 billion) plan of austerity and growth measures last month aimed at meeting the goal of a balanced budget in 2013 and stemming surging borrowing costs. The plan includes a revamp of the pension system, a tax on main properties abolished by the previous government, higher levies on luxury goods such as yachts and sports cars, and tax breaks for companies that hire woman and young workers.
To contact the reporters on this story: Chiara Vasarri in Rome at cvasarri@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jerrold Colten at jcolten@bloomberg.net
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