Confindustria revises GDP growth upward

(ANSA) - Rome, December 14 - Italian GDP is expected to grow by 0.9% in 2016 and by 0.8% in 2017, employers' group Confindustria said on Wednesday, revising its earlier lower estimates of 0.7% and 0.5%, respectively.
    It estimates GDP will grow by 1.0% in 2018.
    The revised estimates are linked to improved economic trends in 2016 and the government's budget bill, which provides for increased flexibility in the debt-to-GDP ratio as well as fiscal stimulus on investments.
    Confindustria revised its unemployment rate estimates downward, to 11.4% in 2016 from a previous estimate of 11.5%, and 11% in 2017, down from 11.2%.
    It estimates the unemployment rate in 2018 will be 10.5%.
    Total employment is expected to grow by 1.1% in 2016 and by 0.6% in 2017, it said.
    Meanwhile, the number of those living in absolute poverty has risen 157% since 2007, to 4.6 million people in 2016, Confindustria said, speaking of a context of "a reduction in well-being and a social and political unraveling without precedent in the post-WWII period".