Italian industrial turnover registers sharp increase

Italy's industrial turnover in January rose 3 percent on the year-over-year basis, registering the sharpest increase since December 2011, official data showed on Friday. National statistics institute Istat said that industrial orders also rose by 2.6 percent in January on the year-over-year basis, and were up 4.8 percent month-on-month, the strongest growth since December 2010. Sales in foreign markets contributed the most to the positive trend, according to Istat. On the same day, Confcommercio, Italy's largest business association which represents more than 700,000 members, revised its growth forecast for the country's gross domestic product (GDP) up from 0.3 percent to 0.5 percent. In a report presented on Friday, Confcommercio estimated consumption to be stagnant in 2014. If the new government led by Prime Minister Matteo Renzi enacts promised cuts of income and business taxes, GDP could rise to 0.8 percent and consumption to one percent this year, the association added. However, Confcommercio President Carlo Sangalli said when presenting the report that "although the first measures announced by the government in recent days are going in the right direction, there is no room for easy optimism." Sangalli stressed that 2014 will be a "transition year, in which the country is weak and should ward off the danger of a serious relapse."