Italy's economy grew slightly in the first quarter (Q1) of this year based on final figures released Tuesday, a contrast to preliminary data released a month ago which showed an economic contraction, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
The country's National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) reported that final gross domestic product data for the January-March period increased by 0.1 percent compared to the previous quarter, stronger than preliminary figures released in late April showing the economy shrunk by 0.2 percent over the previous quarter.
Compared to the first quarter of 2021, the economy grew by 6.2 percent, according to the final figures, also higher than the 5.8 percent growth in the preliminary release.
ISTAT said the main factor limiting growth in the first quarter of this year was the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic impacts from events in Ukraine were also relevant.
ISTAT expects the economy to grow 2.6 percent for the year 2022 as a whole.
ISTAT said domestic consumption fell by 0.6 percent in the first quarter, while exports and imports grew by 3.5 percent and 4.3 percent respectively.