As national restrictions to fight the COVID-19 pandemic crisis were progressively lifted in the first half of the year, Italy has been experiencing positive economic growth throughout 2021. In 2021- Q3, GDP grew by 2.63 percent relative to 2021-Q2 and by 3.95 percent relative to 2020-Q3. The national unemployment rate is still high at 9.23 percent, but decreased relative to the previous quarter. There is a modest inflation rate, with prices having increased by 0.74 percent relative to the previous quarter and by 2.18 percent relative to the same period of the previous year. According to the OECD economic outlook, GDP is expected to continuously grow and to stabilize at an annual growth rate of about 3.0-4.0 percent in 2022. Unemployment, however, is not expected to decline significantly, reaching 9.5 percent by the end of next year, while inflation will increase up to 1.8 percent by the end of 2021, and will stabilize at around 1.0 percent in 2022. These predictions are based on the expectation that economic activity will gradually transit towards normalcy.

January 2022