The reasons for the unexpected growth of industrial production

Thanks to some of its characteristics of flexibility, Italian industry continues to travel faster than that of its partners. Notes for catastrophists

It wrong-footed the forecasts of both Bloomberg (+0.2 percent) and Reuters (-0.1 percent). Industrial production in December 2022 with +1.6 percent turned out to be a pleasant surprise thanks to the largest monthly increase since last August. This is a trend reversal compared to the previous two months (in fact the quarter still closed with -0.9 per cent) and contains various messages. In the first place, thanks to some of its characteristics of flexibility, Italian industry continues to travel faster than that of its partners. Then, given that capital goods took the sprint, yesterday’s data suggests that the pace of investments has resumed after a stalemate, reminding everyone – primarily the government – of the driving role of mechanics and in particular way of 4.0.