Industry data impose reaction - Boccia

(ANSA) - Foggia, February 19 - A sharp fall in both industrial turnover and orders in December "impose a duty and responsibility for all the country to react", Confindustria employers' group head Vincenzo Boccia said Tuesday.
    Boccia called for the "immediate" opening of a number of public works sites which have been blocked and which "are so-called anti-cyclical elements that would boost jobs and growth".
    Italian industrial turnover was down by 3.5% in December with respect to November and by 7.3% compared to the same month in 2017, according to calendar-adjusted data released by ISTAT on Tuesday.
    This was the biggest year-on-year drop since November 2009.
    Industrial orders, meanwhile, fell by 1.9% on November and by 5.3% with respect to December 2017, the national statistics agency said. In this case, the year-on-year drop was the worse since July 2016.
    The agency said a drop in foreign demand was a big factor.
    It said that, for 2018 as a whole, industrial turnover was up 2.3% with respect to 2017, compared to a rise of 5.6% the previous year.
    Orders were up 2% in 2018 with respect to 2017, down from 6.3% the year before.