2016 growth just 0.8% after Brexit (2)

(ANSA) - Milan, July 1 - Italy's GDP will rise by 0.8% this year and by 0.6% in 2017, the CSC research centre of industrial employers' confederation Confindustria said Friday after revising down its forecasts following the Brexit. In December it forecast growth of 1.4% in 2016 and 1.3% in 2017. "The effects of the Brexit will be more evident in 2017," CSC said. Confindustria's research unit also said that a recession could ensue if the government's package to overhaul Italy's political machinery is rejected in a referendum this autumn. "The failure (of the Constitutional reform referendum) could interrupt the recovery and sent the Italian economy back into recession," it said. Premier Matteo Renzi has pledged to resign if the package, which features the controversial transformation of the Senate into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with limited powers, is rejected.