Time.news – The pandemic was a “tsunami” for consumption: despite the recovery recorded during 2021, the crisis triggered by Covid has canceled almost 4 thousand euros in spending per family since the beginning of the health emergency. To estimate it is Confesercenti.
The figure is the sum of the reduction in consumption compared to the pre-crisis level recorded on average by each family in 2020 (-2.653 euros) and in 2021 (-1.298 euros), for a total of -3.951 euros.
Region by region
At the territorial level, according to Confesercenti estimates, the worst setback is recorded in Tuscany, with a real loss of € 9,119 in spending per household. Following, in the ranking of the regions that have lost the most, Molise (-5,903 euros per family), Piedmont (-5,724 euros) and Basilicata (-5,491 euros). But losses of over 5 thousand euros per household are also found in Sardinia (-5,305 euros), Veneto (-5,117 euros) and Valle D’Aosta (-5,014).
A compression of household consumption just below the threshold of 5 thousand euros is recorded in Lombardy (-4.969 euros per nucleus) and Trentino Alto-Adige (-4.620 euros), while they suffer a loss of more than 3 thousand euros in Puglia (-3.951 euros) , Emilia-Romagna (-3.776 euros), Marche (-3.413 euros) and Umbria (-3.338 euros). Above 2 thousand euros is the estimated reduction in expenditure in Calabria (-2.796 euros per family), Liguria (-2.676 euros), Campania (-2.626 euros) and Friuli-Venezia Giulia (-2.554 euros). Instead, the losses contained – in any case above the threshold of one thousand euros – Lazio (-1,568 euros per family), Abruzzo (-1,402 euros) and Sicily (-1,025).
Lockdown and income reduction
To weigh on the drop in consumption, explains Confesercenti, several factors. First of all, lockdowns and restrictions which affected our country between 2020 and the first six months of 2021; but they also affect the reduction of wages, inflation and uncertainty, which leads families to maintain a saving rate that is still well above that of the periods prior to the pandemic.
“The pandemic has had a devastating impact on household consumption – comments Patrizia De Luise, national president of Confesercenti – Adding up the consumption lost in 2020 and 2021, it is as if families have lost two or three months of income. Action must be taken to accelerate recovery, because about 60% of our GDP depends on internal consumption. The main road is the fiscal one: the tax reform, which will begin with this year’s maneuver, must free up the resources of families as much as possible ”.
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