Industrial employers’ group Confindustria on Friday predicted that Italian GDP growth will be stronger in the first quarter of 2016 compared to the end of 2015, spurred by a 0.9% increase in industrial production in January, ANSA reported. Confindustria also predicted that consumer spending would get a boost from recent improvements in the Italian labor market. In its conjectural study, Confindustria said increased employment, supported by Jobs Act labor reforms, set about a “virtuous circle, strengthening both household budgets as well as confidence and propensity to consume”. This is while Italy’s economic growth slowed for the third straight time in the fourth quarter, preliminary estimate from the statistical office Istat showed Friday. Gross domestic product climbed 0.1% sequentially, slower than the 0.2% expansion seen in the third quarter and 0.3% in the second quarter. Economists had forecast a 0.3% growth. On a yearly basis, growth accelerated to 1% from 0.8% in the third quarter.
