ROME – Italian economic growth has weakened in the second quarter and over the whole year gross domestic product is likely to expand by less than the government forecasts, the country’s budget watchdog said on Wednesday.
The Parliamentary Budget Office (UPB) forecast in a report that GDP in the euro zone’s third largest economy would increase by 0.8% this year, slightly below Rome’s 1.0% official estimate made in April.
Next year growth will accelerate to 1.1%, the UPB projected, compared with a government forecast of 1.2%, Reuters reported.
The report said GDP growth appeared to have slowed between April and June, after the 0.3% quarter-on-quarter rate reported by statistics bureau ISTAT in the first quarter.
The manufacturing sector remains weak, while construction, which has strongly supported Italian growth in recent years, is now weakening due to the progressive withdrawal of state financial incentives for building work, the report said.
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