SICILY – In the first three months of 2024 over 7,600 companies in Sicily they closed. Technically they have ceased, as indicated in the company’s records Chamber of Commerce. The data should be considered “normal”, because, explains Infocamere, coinciding with the end of the year CamCom certifies all the closures of entities that are no longer active. This is confirmed by Professor Full Professor of Economics and Business Management at the University of Catania, Rosario Faraciwho adds: “We must always wait for the data for the entire year to make more precise and systematic considerations”.
For businesses the trend remains negative over the years
Likewise, statistics should not be underestimated and should be observed. The balance of Sicily, i.e. the ratio between new businesses born and closed, is -845 and is the second highest in the South. Abruzzo does worse but counts further 4 thousand fewer businesses of Sicily. In Campania, the estimate indicates 10,359 closed businesses. In Pugliathis figure stands at 6,981, while in Calabria there is a total of 2,885 companies no longer active in the area.
“Given this, the data just presented do not surprise me – analyzed Professor Faraci -, the negative trend of recent years is confirmed for the traditional sectors, agriculture, commerce and industry, while professional and technical activities grow numerically more than terminations“.
Negative balances in Sicily, but businesses are resisting
As regards provincial balances and projections, Sicily shows different trends. Negative in the first case. The lowest negative balance was recorded by Infocamere in Campaniawith -596, while Abruzzo and Sicily have worse data and are almost equivalent. Specifically, the balance is -860 and -845. So far the numbers, but how is it possible to read the regional picture of business mortality and birth rate? Professor Faraci answers again. “The substantial stability (-0.18%) compared to the same quarter of the previous year (-0.19%) must be read in relation to the dynamics of entrepreneurship in regions, like ours, which are poorer and less developed – specified the teacher -. Here we do business more out of necessity than always out of real vocation and therefore micro-entrepreneurship also represents a sort of social safety net for certain social groups“.
But the province of Ragusa stands out
Analyzing i provincial data again from Infocamere, it emerges that Palermo And Ragusa they stand out for greater stability, despite declining balances. In Palermo, the balance between openings and closures stands at only -0.4%, lower than the regional average, a situation similar to that of Ragusa, with a percentage stuck at -0.8%. In reverse, Enna And Catania record the highest balances, 0.47% and 0.45% respectively. In the Ennese area, 170 companies were opened and 241 closed in the first three months of 2024, while in Catania the numbers are more consistent, with 1,489 openings and 1,965 closures. Infocamere reports negative balances above the regional average Agrigento (-10%), Trapani (-17%), Caltanissetta (-21%), Syracuse (-0.24%) e Messina (-0.25%), signs of difficulties at both a territorial and regional level. However, overall, the Sicilian situation does not differ significantly from that of the rest of Italy.
“Further reading by province – concluded professor Rosario Faraci – the province of Ragusa, for example, is the sixth in Italy for indicators of ongoing generativity, according to the Civil Economy report on well-living updated to 2023. This means it has a greater resilience compared to the other Sicilian provinces which leads it, in expansionary economic periods, to grow more than the others and, in times of recessionto better cushion the blows of contraction“.
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