The Italian National Institute of Statistics, Istat, said on Thursday that up to 400,000 Italians could lose their jobs by the end of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences, the ANSA news agency reported
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th May, 2020) The Italian National Institute of Statistics, Istat, said on Thursday that up to 400,000 Italians could lose their jobs by the end of 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences, the ANSA news agency reported.
"As a yearly average the impact of the lockdown on employment will be 2.2 percentage points," the Istat said, as cited by the media outlet, adding that the business and consumer confidence has dropped dramatically.
Business confidence fell from 79.5 in March to today's 51.1, according to the institute's press release, while the consumer confidence index went down from 100.1 to 94.3, the lowest since December 2013.
Last week, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that the worst of the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy was over, although he urged citizens to continue taking health precautions and avoid traveling abroad. Italy first began easing its lockdown measures, enacted in March to slow the spread of the disease, on May 4.
As of Thursday, Italy has confirmed over 231,000 COVID-19 cases, more than 147,000 recoveries and 33,072 fatalities.
