Italy industry output falls in February as economy struggles

By Antonella Cinelli

ROME (Reuters) -Italian industrial output fell 0.9% in February from the month before, broadly in line with market expectations, data showed on Thursday, offering no sign of a pick-up for the country's struggling economy.

A Reuters survey of 11 analysts had pointed to a 1.0% decline.

National statistics agency ISTAT also said industrial production fell 0.7% in the December-February quarter compared with the previous three months.

On a work day-adjusted year-on-year basis, industrial output in the euro zone's third largest economy was down in February by 2.7% versus a forecast for a 1.9% fall, marking the 25th consecutive decline.

The Italian economy grew by 0.7% in 2024, below the government's official 1% forecast. It eked out growth of 0.1% in the fourth quarter after stagnating in the previous three months.

Italy's Treasury on Wednesday slashed its growth forecast for this year to 0.6% from a 1.2% target set in September.

Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said in presenting the government's new economic projections that President Donald Trump's 90-day suspension of many U.S. trade tariffs offered some hope that the growth forecast could be raised in the future.

Italy, which has a large trade surplus with the United States, would be subject to a general tariff of 20% along with the rest of the European Union.

The Bank of Italy has forecast that U.S. tariffs, if confirmed, would have a negative impact of more than half a percentage point on Italian growth in 2025-2027.

The central bank last week cut its forecast for Italy's growth to 0.5% this year, from 0.7% estimated in December.

The picture for industrial output "remains complicated, with the economy almost stagnating", ING's senior economist Paolo Pizzoli said in a comment on the latest ISTAT data, while noting that the tariff truce may help reduce uncertainty.

(Reporting by Antonella Cinelli, editing by Gavin Jones)

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