Credit: Cgia, increasingly indebted families, usury risk rises for artisans and shopkeepers
Families increasingly in debt and artisans and shopkeepers at risk of usury. A critical situation at the moment but still under control. To denounce the difficult relationship between Italians and credit is one study Cgia which estimates that as at 31 December 2022 the average amount of debt per household in Italy had risen to 22,710 euros. An overall stock of bank debts, held by all Italian families, which stood at the record level of 595.1 billion euros and increased by 3.5% compared to 2021. A scenario, this, which for the Cgia could hide another risk: the resurgence of usury to which families and traders could be exposed.
“Although the number of reports to law enforcement of this crime has long been declining, it cannot be ruled out that the increase in household debt is driving more than one person to turn to usurers who have always been more available than anyone else to help those who are short of liquidity, especially in the most economically difficult times. Everyone knows that usury is a karst phenomenon: those who have fallen into the network of loan sharks hardly turn to the police”, explain the artisans of Mestre. Indeed, the data leave little room for optimism. The families most in the “red” are located in the province of Milan, with an average debt of 35,342 euros (+5.1% compared to 2021); in second place we see those of Monza-Brianza, with 31,984 euros (+3%) and in third place the residents of Bolzano, with 31,483 euros (+5%). Just off the podium are Piazza Roma, with an average debt amounting to 30,851 euros (+2.8%) and those of Como, with 30,276 euros (+3.8%). Among the less exposed, however, large areas of the South, as proof, the CGIA continues, of how “the increase in debts is partly attributable to the strong economic recovery that took place in the two-year period 2021-2022”. The most economically exposed provincial areas, in fact, continues the Report, “are also those with the highest income levels even if, in these realities, among the indebted there are also nuclei belonging to the weakest social groups”.
Families residing in the province of Agrigento, in fact, report an average debt of 10,302 euros (+3%) and those of Vibo Valentia, with 9,993 euros (+1.9%). But the least indebted families in Italy are found in Enna, with a “red” amounting to 9,631 euros (+3.6%). Finally, also in 2022, the province of Italy that suffered the most significant growth variation in household debt was Ravenna (+9.1%), while the only one that suffered a contraction was Vercelli (-2. 3%). “With the progressive slowdown of the economy and the consequent collapse of bank loans to businesses in recent months, it cannot be excluded that there is an “approach” of criminal organizations towards family-run micro-companies: such as artisans, shopkeepers and many VAT numbers”, the CGIA still reflects. On the other hand, the world of self-employed workers has always been the most at risk.” To avoid all this, the trend must be reversed, returning to giving liquidity to micro-enterprises, otherwise many of these could end up in the arms of usurers. Not only that, it is also necessary to encourage recourse to the usury “Prevention Fund”. “, the craftsmen of Mestre still ask.
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