Industry is the driving force behind the slow economic recovery in the South of Italy, a study by the Svimez think tank shows. The new figures relative to 2016 show that private investments are playing a decisive role in the consolidation of the growth path begun in 2015 (that in any case remains weak), driven by industry in the strict sense.

With growth in gross domestic product (GDP) of around 1%, the South should substantially replicate the figure from the previous year, when it recovered from seven years of consecutive declines. The figure is better than estimates gathered in Winter (+0.5%). Adriano Giannola, president of the Svimez think tank which promotes the industrialization and development of the South, explained why: “We took account of the negative effect due to the fall in capital account spending of the public administration, but maybe we underestimated the recovery of private investments, which rose 2% after the fall in 2015.”