Istat Reduces Italy’s GDP Growth Forecast to 0.5% for 2024 and 0.8% for 2025.

Rome: Istat announced Thursday that it has revised its GDP growth forecast for Italy to 0.5% for the year 2024 and 0.8% for 2025. This adjustment reflects a reduction of half a percentage point from the national statistics agency’s previous forecast delivered in June for this year’s growth, and a decrease of 0.3 percentage points for the prediction in 2025.

According to Ansa News Agency, the revised forecasts from Istat stand notably lower than the government’s predictions, which anticipated GDP growth of 1% for this year and 1.2% for the following year. Despite the downward revision, Istat highlighted the potential positive impact of the government’s 2025 budget law on the economy for the 2025-27 period. This legislative measure is expected to bolster GDP slightly by less than two-tenths of a point in 2025 and 2026, and by slightly more than two-tenths of a point in 2027.

Istat’s projections indicate that in 2024, GDP growth will benefit from net foreign demand, contributing positively by 0.7 percentage po
ints, whereas domestic demand is expected to contribute negatively by 0.2 percentage points. In contrast, for 2025, the agency predicts that the Italian economy’s growth will be largely driven by domestic demand, contributing positively by 0.8 percentage points.