In the first quarter of the year, household spending in the economic area recorded a decrease of 0.9 per cent in economic terms. Istat notes this in the statistics on quarterly income statements. In particular, purchases of durable goods increased by 2.7 per cent and those of semi-durable goods by 2.4 per cent. On the other hand, consumption of non-durable goods decreased by 1 per cent and those of services by 2 per cent.
In the first quarter of 2022, the gross domestic product, expressed in chain-linked values with the reference year 2015, corrected for calendar effects and seasonally adjusted, increased by 0.1% compared to the previous quarter and by 6.2% compared to the first quarter of 2021. This was announced by Istat in the statistics on quarterly economic accounts, explaining that “these are estimates that are upwards compared to the preliminary estimate of last April 29, when the release showed a cyclical decrease of 0.2% and an increase trend of 5.8% “..
The cyclical growth of the GDP spread on 29 April 2022 was -0.2% while the trend growth was + 5.8%. The economic revision of 0.3 percentage points, although significant – explains Istat -, is not an absolute exception in this period still affected by the pandemic, given that in the first quarter of 2021 the upward revision was 0.5 points. “The recovery was mainly determined by domestic demand and in particular by investments in the face of a negative contribution from foreign demand”, explains the Institute of Statistics. “On the domestic level, the contribution of private consumption was negative while both that of public administrations and that of the change in inventories were nil. Hours worked and units of work also recovered well, against a milder growth in per capita incomes and a stationary nature of job positions “. The first quarter of 2022 had one working day less than the previous quarter and one working day more than in the first quarter of 2021. Compared to the previous quarter, and for the main aggregates of domestic demand, there was a decrease of 0.6 % of national final consumption, against a 3.9% increase in gross fixed investments. Imports and exports grew by 4.3% and 3.5% respectively.