As stated in a report by Italy's industrial confederation Confindustria, Italian gross domestic product (GDP) will decrease significantly at the end of 2011 and the start of 2012. Although industrial production is dipping in the whole euro area, "in Italy's case the fall is deeper and, with activity levels quite distant from 2007-2008, this could threaten the survival of many enterprises."
Confindustria foresees that Italian GDP will fall by 2.4 percent in Q4 2011 compared to Q3, and has highlighted a consumption downtrend and also credit access difficulty, which enhances in turn the decrease of domestic demand.