As the world’s eighth largest economy and EU’s second largest industrial producer, Italy provides a wide range of business opportunities to Swedish companies in various sectors, offering excellent access to service providers, distributors, and suppliers.
The results of the Business Climate Survey for Italy 2022 reveal that most of the Swedish companies present in the market perceive the current business climate to be favourable and expect to increase their turnover as well as investments in the coming 12 months.
The Italian economy has been recovering steadily from the effects of the pandemic, reaching close to a complete return to pre-pandemic output at the end of 2021.
The Italian GDP is expected to grow by 2.8 per cent in 2022 and 1.9 per cent in 2023. The projected growth is in line with other economies in Western Europe. A major game changer for Italy is the NextGenerationEU (NGEU) program, an unprecedented economic stimulus package in the form of grants and loans, of which Italy is the largest receiver.
In line with general growth previsions for the market, the Swedish companies in Italy are overall optimistic about the future, with 60 per cent of the survey’s respondents expecting to increase their turnover in 2022. However, the number displays a decrease from last year’s 73 per cent.
In general, Italians have a highly positive view of Sweden and associates it strongly with quality and innovation, even if the “Swedish brand” is not necessarily connected to only Sweden but Scandinavia in general.
Please download the report to fully overview the results with a detailed analysis.
ABOUT THE SURVEY
The Business Climate Survey is a tool developed to map the opportunities and challenges that Swedish companies face when doing business in Italy. This report presents the conclusions drawn from the survey and an analysis based on the current business situation, economic outlook, as well as other market aspects believed to be relevant for companies operating or planning to establish themselves in Italy.
Conducted during the second quarter of 2022, this survey seeks to understand the perceptions of economic and market developments and what opportunities and challenges Swedish companies are facing in Italy.
Approximately 120 Swedish companies were invited to participate in the survey to share their sentiments and thoughts on the Italian market, with a total of 45 respondents, resulting in a response rate of 38 per cent.
Finally, we would like to extend our most sincere gratitude to the participating companies and respondents which have contributed to this report.
