Oecd Economic Surveys Italy

The Italian economy has not proven resilient to the global slowdown that started in 2001. Their ambitious programme of structural reforms over the past decade allowed Italy to join the EMU and to improve macroeconomic fundamentals but were not enough to prevent the deceleration of growth of 2002. One positive feature was a positive employment performance though inflation rates and unit labour costs are rising faster than the euro-area average and competitiveness is diminishing. The key challenges are to raise the potential rate of growth and increase resilience to future shocks; address the issue of competitiveness by closing the inflation gap; and to continue to provide fiscal policy support to the growth process.Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Staff is the author of 'Oecd Economic Surveys Italy' with ISBN 9789264104228 and ISBN 9264104224.