Ignazio Visco: Recent economic developments and financial intermediaries in Italy

Speech by Mr Ignazio Visco, Governor of the Bank of Italy, at the 25th Congress of ASSIOM FOREX (the Italian financial markets association), Rome, 2 February 2019.

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

Central bank speech  | 
04 February 2019
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Recent economic developments

Since mid-2018 the global economy has been slowing. The euro area has recorded a significant weakening of productive activity; in Italy it has declined. Several factors, some of which are temporary, have contributed to the deterioration of the macroeconomic situation; the foreign demand outlook, firms' expectations and investment trends have also worsened.

In the second half of 2018, industrial production in the euro area declined by 0.5 per cent. The fall was sharpest in Germany (2.2 per cent) and Italy (0.8 per cent), in part owing to the automotive sector's compliance with the new international legislation on emissions from light-duty vehicles.