ANCONA – Economic activity in the Marche region progressively weakened during 2023: it recorded growth of +0.6%, with a lower intensity than the national one (+0.9%) and, from the first section of 2024 , does not appear to be recovering, it is in a stable situation compared to the end of last year. It is the photograph taken by Annual report of the Bank of Italy presented in Ancona at the Mole Vanvitelliana. The picture of the situation is revealed through a new indicator (Regio-coin) developed by Bankitalia.
According to the Bank of Italy, the slowdown is affected by the weakness of domestic and foreign demand due to the international geopolitical framework troubled by conflicts (Russia-Ukraine and crisis in the Middle East).
Alfredo Bardozzettihead of the economic analysis office of the Ancona branch of the Bank of Italy, explained that «over the past year, the economy has lost momentum and the signs of a slowdown have become increasingly evident: as far as industry is concerned there is a real decline in turnover, while for the tertiary and construction sectors the critical issues manifest themselves in the sense of a less brilliant and slender step of the recent past. These aspects were particularly affected by the effects on the demand side: domestic demand was limited by the effects of inflationwhich have eroded the purchasing power of families, and by foreign demand that is less brilliant than usual”.
The report highlights how “Families in the Marche region have to face significant problems” also on the labor market front, «where employment has grown in terms of the number of employed people less than in the rest of the country» clarifies Bardozzetti. Furthermore, in the Marche there are also «problems with the level of wages which in many cases are lower than what is recorded in the rest of the country”.
The conflicts, according to Bardozzetti, do not weigh directly on the economy of the Marche “but certainly indirectly and above all in terms of uncertainty of the geopolitical context and how this reverberates on businesses”.
In the survey conducted by Bankitalia among companies, in fact, «it is highlighted that many of the companies in the Marche region are planning new strategies for 2024 to reduce geopolitical risks on their supply chains, looking for new suppliers, increasing warehouse stocks and, in some ways, in our territory we must also bring back to closer and geopolitically safer areas pieces of production that had previously been relocated further away”.
Among the least penalized sectors is shipbuildingwhich works for foreign clients and which is why it is a sector that has remained brilliant, said Bardozzetti.
The slowdown is mainly caused by industry and construction, even if in the latter area the effects of the construction sites started or completed with Pnrr funds are starting to be seen. The limited growth in 2023 comes from the largest companies. Tourism is growing which increased attendance which already had high values. «The key challenge», «one of the issues to be addressed» in the Marche, is that of productivity: to increase productivity, according to Bardozzetti, investments must be encouraged from a legislative point of view.
With regard to employment dynamics were significantly lower than the national one, +0.3% compared to a national +2.1%. Companies still face difficulties in finding manpower and the supply of labor is contracted also due to the decline in the working-age population.
Family income has been eroded by inflation: in fact, if on the one hand it grew by +4.5% in 2023, inflation decreased it by 0.7%. Bank loans and mortgages are in sharp decline, held back by the increase in rates, lower investments by businesses and the lower convenience of renewing maturing debts because they are more expensive.
Serena Ferretti of the economic analysis and research division of the Ancona office explained that, as regards families, for the first time during 2023 «we have recorded a slightly negative rate of change in loans, this is mainly due to mortgages for the purchase of homes. Families requested less credit mainly due to the rise in interest rates» and due to the uncertainty of future prospects.
