Economic developments in UmbriaUpdate

In the first nine months of 2007 the Umbrian economy showed signs of slowing. In industry, excluding construction, the weak performance of domestic and foreign demand in some of the main branches brought three years of uninterrupted sales growth to a halt. Residential construction slowed, while the recovery of the public works sector was below expectations. Employment continued to increase at a faster rate than elsewhere in the country. Bank lending expanded at a faster pace, partly owing to the growth in short-term loans as a result of extraordinary operations. There was a slowdown in lending to consumer households, especially mortgages. The ratio of new bad debts to total loans remained basically unchanged. Bank sources of funds grew at about the same pace as in 2006.