Italy's industrial turnover up in August, down on yearly basis

Italy's industrial turnover and orders gave a recovery signal in August but continued to be negative on yearly basis, national statistics institute Istat said on Monday. According to Istat, industrial turnover was up 1 percent in August compared to July, but it was 4.8 percent down on the same month in 2012, the 20th consecutive year-on-year drop. Industrial orders were also up 2 percent in August against the previous month, though they were down 6.8 percent on August of the last year, the 10th consecutive year-on-year drop. The Italian economy, which is in its longest recession in more than 20 years, is contracting among soaring unemployment and declining spending power. The country's public debt is expected to rise to 134 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year according to estimates of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and is the second largest in the European Union (EU) after Greece. Italy has been struggling to keep its deficit below 3 percent of GDP to meet the EU ceiling, after admitting it had been on course to finish 2013 at 3.1 percent. In May, the EU closed an excessive-deficit procedure that it opened in 2009 after the Mediterranean country reined in its budget. Last week, the coalition government of Prime Minister Enrico Letta approved a budget bill - which has to be scrutinized and passed by parliament by the end of the year - featuring a 27.3-billion-euro (37.3-billion-U.S. dollar) adjustment in public finances over the 2014-2016 period. The package foresees government privatizations to help reduce the massive debts as well as an expected decrease of overall tax burden from 44.3 percent to 43.3 percent for families and businesses over three years.