Consumer and business confidence - March 2026

In March, the consumer confidence index dropped from 97.4 to 92.6. The marked decline was observed across all components: the economic climate plummeted from 99.1 to 88.1, the future component fell from 93.1 to 85.3, the current one decreased from 100.7 to 98.0 and, finally, the personal one slackened from 96.8 to 94.2.

With regard to the business confidence climate, the index (IESI, Istat Economic Sentiment Indicator) held virtually stable, moving from 97.4 to 97.3.  

The manufacturing confidence climate improved slightly from 88.5 to 88.8. This progress was driven by better assessments on order books, while production expectations deteriorated. Finally, level inventories became slightly thinner (the balances of the variables ranged from -19.1 to -17.4, from 2.5 to 1.5 and, from 2.5 to 2.2).

The construction confidence climate improved further from 103.1 to 103.6. The increase applies to both employment expectations and order book assessments (the related balances moved from 7.8 to 8.6 and from -1.3 to -1.1, respectively).

The market service confidence climate rose from 102.1 to 102.7. This favourable evolution came from assessments on both the business trend and order books (the related balances increased from 10.1 to 11.1 and from 6.4 to 9.2, respectively), while expectations on order books worsened (the balance of the variable decreased from 10.6 to 8.6).

The retail trade confidence climate reduced significantly passing from 104.9 to 100.6. The balances referring to opinions on both current and future sales clearly slackened (from 12.5 to 7.8 and from 29.0 to 20.6, respectively), while the balance related to assessments on inventory level increased (from 5.6 to 6.4).