In March 2025, economic sentiment among market operators is estimated to have worsened: the consumer confidence index fell from 98.8 to 95.0, and the composite business confidence indicator dropped from 94.7 to 93.3. This is reported by Istat in its latest update on consumer and business confidence.
Among consumers, there is a marked deterioration in both the economic outlook and future expectations (the former fell from 100.2 to 93.2, and the latter from 96.6 to 91.1), while personal and current sentiment saw more moderate declines (from 98.3 to 95.7 and from 100.5 to 97.9, respectively).
As for businesses, confidence trends were mixed across sectors: the index dropped in services (from 97.4 to 94.5) and manufacturing (from 86.9 to 86.0), remained essentially stable in retail trade (from 104.0 to 103.9), and increased in construction (from 103.4 to 104.6).
Regarding the components of confidence indices, in manufacturing, order assessments worsened, inventories were perceived to be accumulating, while production expectations slightly improved. In construction, worsening order evaluations were offset by a sharp improvement in employment expectations within companies. In market services, all components showed negative dynamics, while in retail trade, an improvement was observed only in sales expectations—seen in both large-scale and traditional distribution.
“In March 2025, the business confidence index declined for the second consecutive month, signaling an overall negative sentiment among entrepreneurs; however, there are positive signs from production expectations in manufacturing, employment outlook in construction, and sales expectations in retail,” Istat commented. “The deterioration in consumer confidence reflects a widespread worsening in consumer opinions; exceptions include a significant increase in the balance of responses regarding the current opportunity to save,” the institute added.