MNI BRIEF: Italian Corporate Inflation Expectations Dip-Survey

Italian businesses’ inflation expectations fell in Q1 2023, with companies employing at least 50 workers now expecting CPI to hit 6.4% over the coming12 months, down from 8.1% in Q4, according to the Bank of Italy's latest economic survey.

Inflation expectations improved in across all time horizons, with the two year outlook falling to 5.3% from 6.7%, while thee 3-to-5 year dipped to 4.8% from 5.7%. The lower expectations could plausibly just be a reflection of the fall in HICP in recent months, the BOI survey noted.

Just over 50% of firms encountered difficulties due to high energy prices, although half of them believed problems were less acute than in Q4. Around 38% of industry and services firms and 48% of the construction sector planned to raise prices in the next 3 months, 20 points lower than previously. Problems associated with the procurement of raw materials and intermediate inputs also decreased further.

Although selling prices continued to grow at a rapid pace over the last year, for the first time since the end of 2020, firms foresee a slowdown in the next 12 months in all sectors, with the exception of residential construction.