Italy’s economy returned to growth in the first quarter of the year, pulling clear of its third recession in a decade, while the country’s unemployment rate receded in March. Italian GDP rose a quarterly 0.2% between January and March, and was up 0.1% on an annual basis, Italy’s national statistics bureau Istat reported. Some 60,000 jobs were created in Italy last month, while the overall employment rate climbed to 58.9% in March from 58.6% in February — its highest level since April 2008. “The Italian economy came out of recession at the start of 2019 in better shape than expected. Data released last month showed that the fall in Italy’s fourth quarter GDP was primarily due to a sharp reduction in inventories, while exports, consumer spending and investments all expanded at the end of last year.

Source: Irish Examiner May 01, 2019 06:11 UTC