(ANSA) - Rome, June 17 - 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.
Over 20,000 retail and tourism businesses lost Jan-May
Closures driven by higher taxes, crisis, Confesercenti says