Rome, May 25 - Italian shopkeepers do not expect a turnaround in the economy in the second quarter of this year but hope the rate of recession seen in the first quarter will slow down, the retail industry body chief said on Monday.
Marco Venturi, president of the small and medium-sized retailers' association Confesercenti, told Reuters that about 20,000 companies in the sector went out of business in the first quarter after 30,000 were wiped out over the whole of last year. "This is a result of families holding back on purchases and being more selective. The second quarter of the year will not see a turnaround but will continue the negative trend from the first quarter of the year," said Venturi.
"But in the second quarter we could start to see some sort of slowdown in the rate of decline and some stimulus giving the market more confidence," he said.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will address the annual assembly of Confesercenti members on Thursday when, Venturi said, he will be lobbied to provide more fiscal breaks for small business and to push banks to ease up their credit restrictions.