Italy GDP seen rising 0.2 pct in Q1 -Bank of Italy
ROME, April 13 The Italian economy grew around 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the first three months of the year, helped by a robust service sector, the Bank of Italy said in a report published on Thursday.
Over the same period, the bank predicted that industrial output slipped by around 0.5 percentage points by comparison with the fourth quarter of 2016, bringing to an end two consecutive quarters of growth.
"Uncertainty stemming from economic and political factors is once again the main obstacle to growth (for Italian firms)," the bank said.
The Italian government this week raised its gross domestic forecast to 1.1 percent for 2017 from a previous target of 1.0 percent.
"The main factor contributing to GDP growth in the first three months was the estimated positive performance of the service sector," the bank said, adding that there was a margin of error of 0.1 percentage points on its GDP forecast.
"In the first quarter, downside risks may be prevalent," it said.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer)