The Italian economy is famous for being the third-largest in the EU zone. The quarterly rate was 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2018, the country’s national statistics reported. But in recent years, the bleak recession haunted the bloc. Now, the debt market continues to escalate, intensifying concerns about the country’s economy.
In the previous three months, 0.1 percent drop signifies that the country is suffering from a technical recession. Another sign is just four years after the last one, the country faced two straight quarters of economic contraction. Italy’s recession widely impacts the eurozone. It follows the further uncertainties during and after Brexit, the China-U.S. tensions, plus the new vehicle emissions standards.
Although the EU was performing better during the debt crisis threatening EU currency, it is still performing less than the U.S. economy. This becomes the reason why unemployment in the EU doubled the U.S. at 4 percent or at 7.9 percent. In the final quarter the eurozone economy as a whole merged 0.2 percent. It expanded by 1.8% in 2018, the weakest in four years.
It has caused acute concern over the past few months. One of the reasons is the new populist government was in a bad term with the EU executive Commissions over the budget plans. Italian borrowing rates in the bond market climbed higher. In a few years, the government was elected to battle the economic situation.
However, the stagnant economic growth keeps going. The country expects to provide more social security along with rolling back a pension reform. In this scenario, Italy would not minimize debt which is over 130%, the highest in Europe after Greece. Giuseppe Conte, the country;s premier, put the blame on the China and U.S. tensions that weighed Italian exports.