According to the survey conducted between 23 August and 13 September 2023 among Italian industrial and service firms with 50 or more employees, in the third quarter of this year opinions regarding the general state of the economy and expectations for business conditions over the next three months deteriorated significantly compared with the previous quarter, though the impact of high energy prices eased further. Overall demand growth slowed, reflecting a decline in foreign orders for the first time since end-2020. Likewise, the outlook for sales weakened, while remaining broadly favourable.
Assessments of investment conditions worsened, in line with a trend that started in early 2022. However, firms still expect investment to grow in 2023 as a whole, albeit at a slower pace than in the previous survey. The outlook for employment has become less positive.
Firms' selling prices have been decelerating over the past year, a trend which looks set to continue over the next twelve months. Consumer price inflation expectations fell further across all time horizons, to 4.7 per cent over a twelve-month horizon (from 8.1 per cent in Q4 2022, the highest level since the beginning of the time series) and to 4.2 and 3.8 per cent over the two-year and three-to-five-year horizons, respectively.
