ROME, Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Confidence among Italian consumers improved in September, while it decreased overall for the third month in a row among businesses, the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said on Thursday.
The consumer confidence index grew to 116 points from 115.3 in August, the agency stated.
All components - economic, personal, current and future - of the index were on the rise, while the balance concerning expectations on unemployment dropped to 18.5 points in September from 23.5 points in the previous month.
Such data consolidated the "moderately positive trend among consumers" registered in the latest months, ISTAT said in its report.
A different picture emerged from data concerning the mood of Italian companies. Here, the composite confidence climate index (IESI) declined slightly to 103.7 points from 103.9 points on a monthly basis.
Although moderate, this was the third consecutive drop for the composite business confidence, which this year showed its latest improvement in June over May, according to data.
As for the specific sectors, the confidence index decreased to 136.9 from 139.3 in construction, while growing to 105.1 from 104.7 in market services, and remaining more or less stable in retail trade.
A positive signal came from the manufacturing sector, where the confidence index increased to 105.7 points in September from 105.0 points in August.
"This is the first positive sign for this indicator since last February, with an improvement in the opinions on orders, both domestic and foreign," ISTAT stated.
"Judgments on export sales in manufacturing also showed a slight recovery in the third quarter, after declines in the first two quarters of this year," it added.
"The so-called 'Dignity Decree' recently passed by the Italian cabinet is one factor behind this climate of uncertainty among businesses," Giuseppe Di Taranto, professor of economic and business history at LUISS University in Rome, told Xinhua.
Approved in August, this provision imposes new limits for companies on fixed-term contracts, and increased indemnities for unfair dismissal, among other rules, and it was strongly criticized by entrepreneurs.
"Most entrepreneurs believe the new restrictions will push unemployment levels up," Di Taranto explained.
A second major factor of uncertainty and less confidence among businesses was represented by the 2019 budget, which the Italian cabinet is due to pass this week, along with the country's new fiscal targets.
A key decision would concern the new deficit-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio, which the previous government had put at 0.8 percent.
Now, the deficit target might be raised up to 2.4 percent of GDP.
"The more the deficit/GDP ratio (for 2019) will remain low, the higher the business confidence index will grow," Di Taranto said.
"Vice versa, increasing consistently the deficit target, entrepreneurs would fear possible negative reactions from the European Commission (reviewing national budgets), and a higher spread between Italian bonds and German bonds."
A higher spread would bring about higher interest rates for companies asking for bank loans, and this is a very relevant factor, the economist stressed, since Italy's industrial system is much more banking-oriented than market-oriented.
