Some 53,037 businesses operating in
the retail and tourism sectors closed in the first five months
of the year, small and medium-sized business association
Confesercenti said Tuesday.
It said 32,230 new businesses opened in the same period,
translating into a negative balance of 20,807.
The decline was due to a combination of higher taxes and
the ongoing crisis in demand on the domestic market,
Confesercenti said.
Italy is struggling to emerge from its longest postwar
recession.
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