Luigi Federico Signorini: Economic developments in Lombardy

Remarks by Mr Luigi Federico Signorini, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Italy, at the presentation of the Bank of Italy's report on economic developments in Lombardy, Milan, 5 July 2017.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Italy has emerged from the longest and deepest recession in peacetime memory. Slow and hesitant at first, the recovery is gradually strengthening, and for two years now the trend has been clearly positive. Of course, the road ahead is still long and fraught with uncertainty. Notwithstanding its recent growth, Italy's GDP remains seven percentage points below the level of early 2008. Spain's is about to reach that level, while France and Germany have already outstripped it by five and eight points respectively. Nor should the risks on the horizon be underestimated. And yet, even taking account of the lost ground that will be difficult to make up, recent economic developments have been undoubtedly favourable. 

In the first three months of this year Italy's GDP grew by 0.4 per cent,  exceeding the expectations of the leading forecasters.