Recovery held back without credit - Confindustria

(ANSA) - Rome, April 6 - Italy's economic recovery risks being held back unless businesses' access to credit improves, the research centre of industrial employers' confederation Confindustria said Thursday. "There has been a slow improvement in the economy for two years along with a strong contraction in credit to companies," read a Confindustria report ahead of the ECOFIN meeting in Malta. "The question is how long it can last".
    The report bemoaned a 2.2% fall in bank loans to businesses in 2016, while business loans granted by Italy's four biggest banks dropped 0.8%.