According to the survey conducted between 22 November and 14 December 2023 among Italian industrial and service firms with 50 or more employees, opinions regarding the general state of the economy and expectations for business conditions over the next three months remain unfavourable overall. However, they have slightly improved compared with the previous survey, in the wake of a moderate recovery in domestic demand and less negative investment conditions, especially in services, with expected investment spending remaining resilient. Towards the end of the year, the deterioration in the assessments of access to credit eased across all sectors, and nine out of ten firms reported that their liquidity conditions were at least sufficient. For the first quarter of 2024, firms expect employment to continue to rise.
Growth in firms' selling prices kept slowing and it is expected to weaken further over the next 12 months. Around two thirds of firms forecast an increase in hourly wages for their employees over the next 12 months, and almost a third said their 2023 price lists already factored in any future salary raises. Consumer price inflation expectations fell sharply across all time horizons, to just below 2.5 per cent on short-term horizons and just above 2 per cent on long-term horizons.
