Today, the Bank of Italy and Istat have released their joint annual publication on financial and non-financial wealth of Italy's institutional sectors. The report is published in a renewed and extended version, including the general government and the financial sectors. The publication provides a comprehensive description of the assets and of how they have changed over time in Italy, along with comparisons with other advanced economies.
At the end of 2020, the net wealth of Italian households stood at €10,010 billion, 8.7 times the size of their disposable income, growing by 1 per cent (about €100 billion) with respect to 2019. Dwellings, which represent the main component of household investment, accounted for about half of gross wealth. Financial assets grew with respect to the previous year, mainly owing to the increase in deposits and insurance technical reserves, whereas total household liabilities were substantially stable. Compared with some advanced economies, in Italy household net wealth remained high in proportion to disposable income, whereas it was lower in per capita terms.
The net wealth of non-financial corporations amounted to €1,053 billion at the end of 2020. Total assets equalled €4,934 billion, 60 per cent of which were non-financial assets. The financial component grew compared to 2019, mainly owing to the increase in deposits, whereas the value of non-financial assets decreased. Italian non-financial corporations continued to be less indebted by international comparison.
The net wealth of financial corporations amounted to €739 billion at the end of 2020, mostly reflecting the balance of financial assets and liabilities. Gross wealth rose by about 8 per cent, driven mainly by the increase in deposits and securities. As far as financial liabilities are concerned, the increase was due to insurance technical reserves and deposits.
At the end of 2020, general government net wealth was negative by €1,473 billion (about -90 per cent of GDP). A similar ratio of net wealth to GDP was also observed for the United Kingdom.
