Italy's Government Gets Low Marks on Economy in Latest Poll
Italy's Government Gets Low Marks on Economy in Latest Poll
(Bloomberg) -- Only a third of Italians say the country’s populist ruling coalition is doing enough to foster economic growth, while more than half say those efforts are insufficient, according to an opinion poll in newspaper Corriere della Sera.
“In general, the work of the government on economic issues doesn’t let you foresee an overall improvement among the majority of citizens,” Ferdinando Pagnoncelli, president of polling company Ipsos Italia, wrote in presenting the poll’s results in Sunday’s edition.
Fifty-four percent of the 2,000 people surveyed last month said the government was doing little or nothing for economic growth.
Still, the Ipsos survey shows 59 percent of Italians are satisfied with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s administration, a slip of only one point from December. Pagnoncelli acknowledged that the results were incongruous, but said they were due in part to Italians’ conviction that the coalition will follow through on its ambitious promises.
National statistics agency Istat said last week the country had slipped into recession at the end of last year. On Saturday, Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco joined his European counterparts in signaling that economic growth will be much weaker than predicted.
No margin of error was given for the Ipsos poll.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kevin Costelloe in Rome at kcostelloe@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Fergal O'Brien at fobrien@bloomberg.net, Nick Rigillo, Brian Wingfield
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