Milan – In 2023 it is the phase of strong expansion of the economy ended following the pandemic crisis and the Lombardy’s GDP grew by 1.2%: a higher value than the national average (0.9%) but in slowdown compared to 3.8% in 2022. The data emerges from the usual update from the Bank of Italy on the region’s economy in which it is highlighted that last year industrial production stagnated (0.2%) and company turnover decreased. Even in the first months of 2024, the economic trend remained weak and the forecasts, available at a regional level, indicate a new slowdown in the current year.
The added value of Lombardy represents – it is recalled in the report – approximately 23% of the national one. For the Italian economy, the central scenario of the Bank of Italy’s forecasts, published last April, foresees growth of 0.6% in 2024 and 1% in 2025. “In the medium term the development path of the region will be traced by the ability to give continuity and accelerate icstructural changes undertaken in the last decade and to address the problems of three great transitions: climatic, technological and demographic”underlines the Bank of Italy.
A focus was dedicated to redict of Lombard families in 2023decreased in real terms (-0.7%), due to theprice increase and, according to estimates by the Bank of Italy, 7.5% of Lombardy families were below the absolute poverty threshold, a share only slightly lower than the national average. The financial position of families remained solid overall, although signs of increased difficulties in meeting mortgage payment deadlines. In fact, episodes of suspension (or delay) in the payment of mortgage installments have increased: at the end of 2023, loans with repayment difficulties amounted to 2.6% of the total, a value in line with the national average, but growing compared to 1.1% at the end of 2022. Consumption, although slowing down, continued to grow (+1.4%): spending was financed by drawing on bank deposits that grew significantly during the pandemic and by making use of consumer credit, the report underlines.
In the sector of buildings activity in Lombardy continued to expand in 2023, still supported by incentives for energy efficiency interventions and by the works financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Pnrr). In 2023 the real estate market instead he suffered a setback, with one sharp decrease in sales (-8.9% compared to the previous year in the residential segment) and a slowdown in prices in the residential segment (2.7%, compared to 5.4 in 2022).
