ITALY - AUTUMN MARKS DO-OR-DIE FOR ECONOMY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ROME 000770 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EFIN ETRD IT SUBJECT: ITALY - AUTUMN MARKS DO-OR-DIE FOR ECONOMY ¶1. (SBU) Summary - A recent stream of economic forecasts and data suggest that, while Italy's economy may have touched bottom in the current global downturn, recovery remains elusive. Sobering GDP growth forecasts and unemployment projections counterbalance encouraging signs in consumer and business confidence surveys. Most economists believe the economy can continue to limp along until the fall, when sales need to recover to avoid a second, possibly more painful, round of layoffs and business failures. Absent recovery in external demand, battered consumers and domestic businesses represent the only remaining potential drivers of growth, as export markets remain a question mark and the government remains hobbled by debt. End Summary. Gloomy Figures Persist -------------- ¶2. (U) Over the previous two months, economic observers and Italian policymakers have issued various assessments and forecasts for the Italian economy through 2010. The consensus of the various projections, including from the OECD, the Italian Central Bank and private economists, is that Italy's GDP will shrink by between 4.7 and 5.2 percent in 2009 and recover very mildly (less than one percent) in ¶2010. The government recently revised downward its official figures for first quarter GDP, to minus 2.6 percent. The reasons and particulars of the severe contraction are various, starting with a deep decline in exports (including tourism services) of over 17 percent through 1Q 2009, depressed internal demand for durable goods, and firms cutting inventories. Falling sales are begining to hurt firms' ability to repay loans, as evidenced by a doubling of non-performing corporate loans in the first quarter. ¶3. (U) Other reports, including from international organizations, show Italy losing ground in virtually every measure of economic health including transparency, ease-of-doing business, and net international investment flows. With the shrinkage of private sector activity and increase in public spending, the share of Italian GDP spent by the public sector is nearing 50 percent. On the plus side, consumer confidence surveys show households remain slightly optimistic about prospects for recovery, while surveys of purchasing managers and the manufacturing index for May point to a resurgence in orders in the second half of ¶2009. Bank Credit and Jobs Are Key 
 -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Looking ahead, analysts and policymakers are keeping an eye especially on credit flows to business, the external sector and the employment picture. In his annual report to the Assembly of the Central Bank on May 29, Governor Mario Draghi focused also on Italian companies' lack of competitiveness noting that on the eve of the crisis many small and medium firms had at last begun to address their lack of global competitiveness by investing in new equipment, training workers and seeking new markets. The crisis caught them at midstream, however, leaving many of them over-indebted as sales dried up. Draghi urged Italy's banks to study closely such firms' longer-term prospects in evaluating future loan requests. He moreover noted a serious reduction in the rate of credit growth to households and firms, which he attributed to bank's difficulties in funding themselves and to borrowers' reduced demand for real estate and durable goods. To address the former he called on the state to offer guarantees on certain financial instruments in order to give a boost to the moribund Italian securitization market. ¶5. (U) As regards employment, Draghi and others note that firms have exhausted most measures aimed at avoiding layoffs, whether shortening work weeks, sending employees on involuntary (paid) vacations, or freezing new hiring. Many employers have begun to decline renewing temporary workers' contracts and even laid off permanent workers. Where eligible, (about a third of the Italian workforce) laid-off workers have maintained income through Italy's unemployment compensation fund scheme funded by employers. In all, these measures have succeeded in keeping unemployment under 8.5% and household purchasing power (aided by falling prices) relatively constant. ROME 00000770 002 OF 002 ¶6. (U) Economists' big concern now is what might happen in the fall, when many unemployment benefits, temporary employment contracts and nationwide collective bargaining accords expire. Household income and spending have held up respectably so far (income up 0.1 percent in 1Q09) but an accelerating loss of jobs and benefits could further depress domestic demand. Absent a clear trend toward increased sales, especially exports, firms and households could be in line for a second, more serious shock that could cause domestic demand to fall significantly further, sending many firms over the edge. Fortunately, there are some signs that Italy can avoid a catastrophic turn. Bankers Cautiously Hopeful -------------- ¶7. (SBU) In the view of many bankers with whom the Mission consulted recently, the pace of GDP decline is slowing, bolstered by relatively healthy household finances featuring very low total debt as a percentage of income (49 percent vs EU average of 100 percent) that has allowed them to keep up demand for basic consumption goods. On the business front, banks report that Italian exports to Asia (especially China) and Russia are starting to pick up. The key to recovery of industrial production, say the bankers, will be a robust recovery of export markets. Domestically, industry got a boost from car-buying incentives introduced by the government in the first quarter, but bankers expect no more such stimuli. ¶8. (SBU) Meanwhile bankers bristle still at the charge that they have turned over-cautious with credit to business. They claim to be ready to lend but that demand for loans remains weak. Firms counter that loan approvals take much longer today and that banks are demanding greater guarantees, fees and slightly higher interest rates. Various knowledgeable economists have told us that Italian firms tend to be undercapitalized and banks' tightened conditions reflect their expectation that business owners should risk more of their own capital, and not just the bank's funds. As regards banks' funding, various banks report a healthy inflow of retail deposits (as Italians perhaps brace for further pain or eschew all but the safest investments for their money) and a slow resumption of liquidity in the interbank market. ¶9. (SBU) Comment: Bankers and private sector leaders agree that the fall will be a critical time for the future direction of Italy's economy. While maintaining cautious optimism, they worry that consumers will lose heart if they see no change in their income prospects when they return from summer vacations. Until now, consumers have told surveyors that their personal economic situation was satisfactory, even as they opined that the broader economy was in poor shape. This attitude has kept consumers spending, with cutbacks noticeable only in the durable goods sector. If in fall they believe hard times will be around a while still, consumers may tighten their belts further, damping hopes of recovery. Exports are currently a mixed, but largely unknown factor for near-term recovery. The rebound of energy prices bodes well for sales in certain markets, but will do little to aid recovery of formerly vibrant exports to Eastern Europe and South Asia. The other potential engine of growth, business investment, is an unknown quantity. If, as the Central Bank alleges, Italian industry is in the process of modernization, firms might decide to continue such plans, irrespective of current conditions. They would have to fund new investment with their own capital most likely, boosting the economy in any event. The current government recognizes that Italy's regulatory, labor and tax regimes act as disincentives in-part to such risk-taking and last week approved a Council of Ministers decree offering tax rebates on new capital investment. We will track the decree's impact. Post will likewise report septel on new calls for fundamental reform of Italy's broken economic model. DIBBLE