It will take Italian families 15 years before their spending returns to levels seen before the global economic crisis, Italian retailers' association Confcommercio said Monday.
At current rates of growth in gross domestic product (GDP), consumption, and disposable income, Italians won't recover 2007 levels of per-capita GDP until 2027, Confcommercio added during its annual assembly.
As well, family spending levels won't return until 2030, and disposable income levels won't become a reality once more until 2034, according to the organization's calculations.
Consumption grew 0.5% in April after dipping 0.1% in March, the organization added. The April rise is the highest in the past two years, according to Confcommercio data. Consumption rose 0.8% in April over the same period last year, an improvement over 0.4% growth in March, the association said. The growth rate would have to double in order to cut recovery time by six to eight years, Confcommercio estimated.
The nation's GDP will probably grow 1.1% in 2015 and by 1.4% next year, the association said.
Meanwhile, Italian President Sergio Mattarella told Confcommercio "this year (brings) a season of significant change, marked by a recovery in economy activity". In a message, Mattarella added: "Initial signals...appear encouraging after long years marked by crisis, inducing us to multiply efforts" to reform and modernize the nation.
Confcommercio's leader said that Premier Matteo Renzi's labour reforms contained in the Jobs Act are taking Italy in the "right direction".
Now, it is time to begin reforms to simplify Italian rules and regulations, said the group's president Carlo Sangalli.
"We expect labour costs to go down, not increase," under the Jobs Act, said Sangalli.
"Now it's time for simplification of the rules, of all the obligations, and the excessive controls," he said.
The government has promised to simplify business processes to encourage growth.
Some members booed comments by Industry Minister Federica Guidi when she suggested the economic recession in Italy is over.
Some also muttered and grumbled when Guidi said that government measures, including reductions to the IRAP regional business tax and an 80-euro monthly tax break for low-income earners, had pulled the country out of recession.
"With the 80-euro (measure) and cutting IRAP we have contributed to the restart of consumption," she said.
The Italian government expects the economy to grow by about 0.7% this year.
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