Monthly Archives: March 2006

Italy Had Zero GDP Growth In 2005

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I am sure some people must sometimes feel I am exaggerating when I try to explain the rather dire straits which I feel the Italian economy has fallen into. If you are one of those people I would ask you to take a good look at the latest data release:

Official statistics published on Wednesday showed Italy experienced zero growth in 2005 underlining the dire state of the country’s economy and dealing a blow to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s election campaign…..Istat, the official statistics institute, said that the weak data contrasted with the US’s 3.5 per cent, the UK’s 1.8 per cent, the 0.9 per cent of Germany and Spain’s 3.4 per cent.

And it’s not as if 2005 was a bad year for the global economy generally, the world economy steamed ahead at a rate of around 4.25% last year, driven by systematic development in India and China and strong growth in the US. Italy has now had an annual growth rate of around 1% per annum over the last decade, and I see no good reason to justify the expectation that this is going to perk upwards sharply anytime soon.

Cyfarchion a’r dydd Gwyl Dewi ein nawdd Sant

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Today is Saint David’s day, or Dewi Sant, so greetings to you all everywhere. As you know I am not a person with nationalist sentiment, but a good excuse for a celebration is always fine with me. One of my cousins, she must be in her seventies now, wrote to remind me:

“Greetings to you all on Saint David’s Day. Cyfarchion a’r dydd Gwyl Dewi ein nawdd Sant.

I hope you are all well. My Daffodils are out in the garden and I will wear my Daffodil and enjoy leeks – not from my garden! I am having a holiday on 1 March and so are many others inspite of Mr. Blair, who will not grant us a holiday. We will soon wear him down as the demand for a Welsh National Holiday is getting stronger every year.”

So onwards and upwards to the coalition of the willing, that’s what I say!