Forced revision of the budget by families to cope with the sting on domestic users. Eight out of 10 Italians will even halve the budget allocated to non-essential items of expenditure, in particular consumption in restaurants and bars, travel and clothing. At the same time, nearly one in two Italians are considering stocking up on primary goods – especially food – for fear of a price boom or a supply cutback. These are some of the data that emerged from a survey conducted by IPSOS for Confesercenti on a sample of consumers.
Overall, only 9% of respondents will face the expensive bills without batting an eye: the remaining 91% will adopt some saving strategy, cutting on average 55% of the budget foreseen for other expenses, a share that rises to 59% in the regions of the South and the Islands.
The savings on non-essential expenses mainly concern dinners and lunches out, fashion and even the coffee ritual. In fact, consumption in restaurants is at the top of the spending review ranking, indicated as an item to be cut by 67%. Followed by clothing and accessories (53%) and Bar (49%). But tourism is also suffering: 47% indicate a willingness to reduce their vacation budget, while a further 37% will also cut short trips, with less than two nights away from home. Inevitably, the ax of the spending review also falls on entertainment activities (shows, music, video games, ‘cut’ by 47%), technology purchases (38%) and travel by private means (35%).
In addition, almost one in two Italians (49% on average, with peaks of 57% in the south) is evaluating – or has already done so – stocks of primary goods. Target of the assault on the shelves of discount stores and food stores, especially pasta and rice, indicated by 66% of those who evaluate stocks, but also canned products (48%), legumes (41%), water and drinks (36%), frozen foods (28%) and medicines (26%). The fear of a sharp increase in prices coming in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict (61%) or even an interruption of supplies (39%) is driving the hoarding.
“Energy consumption is practically incompressible and the incoming blow to bills will reduce consumption on other expenditure items by approximately 54 billion”, explains Patrizia De Luise, President of Confesercenti. “The conflict in Ukraine and the rush of electricity and gas are generating negative expectations and, in some segments of the population, real irrational alarmism”, she adds.