(Finance) – “The Italian economy and industry, in particular, have shown themselves to be extremely resilient to the challenges deriving from the pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine. In an extremely complex operating context, characterized by scarcity of production inputs and irregularities and delays in the functioning of global value chains, already at the end of 2021 Italy had managed to fully recover the production levels of 2019, against a still marked delay for France, Germany and Spain”. He underlined this in his speech at the Ucimu meeting Gian Maria Gros-Pietro, president of Intesa Sanpaolo. “This resilience – he continued – is the result of a productive fabric which, over time, has been able to transform itself by gaining competitiveness. In the years following the great recession of 2008 and the European sovereign debt crisis which began in 2010, Italian industry started a process of restructuring which has allowed the emergence of a hard core of stronger and more dynamic companies, able to compete better at an international level.The key has been investments, which have taken off especially since the introduction of super- and hyper-depreciation “.
“Strengthened on a competitive level, and in a context of persistent weakness of the internal market, businesses – he said Gros-Pietro – they were able to accelerate on the lever of theinternationalization, in all its forms. Also in 2022, despite a tense operating context, Italian exports of manufactured goods held up well, +9.8% at current prices, +2.6% at constant prices, with excellent performance on non-European markets, especially in the United States. The excellent export results also supported the turnover performance of the Italian manufacturing industry, which recorded +2.6% at constant prices, on average for 2022, and +15.2% at current prices, exceeding 1,160 billion of Euro. Rooting in foreign markets has been accompanied by gradually more articulated development plans, which have paid off both in terms of growth in size of the companies and in terms of margins and industrial profitability”.
“The Italian manufacturing – added the president of Intesa Sanpaolo – appears to be strengthened compared to the past and seems to have the necessary resources internally to face the challenges of the near future. The key lies in the investments, in particular those necessary for the two main challenges, namely the energy transition, for which Italy will have to aim at doubling the installed capacity of renewable sources by 2030, and digitalisation, necessary to achieve that leap in productivity that would allow the country to position itself on a structurally higher GDP growth path. A large part of Italian industry has already started investing in energy transition and digitization some time ago and has also begun to focus increasing resources on the search for closer and more reliable suppliers, in order to be able to count on greater security of supply of raw materials and other crucial inputs for production processes. Italy, more than other European competitors, has managed to preserve a large and diversified manufacturing production base internally, potentially capable of hooking up more quickly to the growing phenomenon of reshoring. If the trend towards proximity were to consolidate and strengthen, Italian industry will have to invest in expanding the production base on the national territory or in the countries of the Euro-Mediterranean basin, investing in new capacity”.
“The Pnrr represents the greatest opportunity to achieve a real relaunch of the Italian economy and start a path of sustainable growth of structural transformation. Intesa Sanpaolo, the first Italian bank and one of the largest in Europe, wants to play the role of ‘transmission belt’ of the Pnrr, anticipating the financial needs of companies, attracting resources to the real economy, connecting large projects with the fabric economic-productive economy – he underlined Gros-Pietro –. Like Intesa Sanpaolo – he recalled – we have doubled the resources of the Pnrr, making 410 billion euros available to businesses and households in medium and long-term loans, 270 of which are exclusively dedicated to businesses. We have committed 76 billion to the energy transition, resources that we support with consultancy and training services for entrepreneurs and managers. All our loans and investments will be evaluated in terms of ESG, adopting the principles of environmental sustainability and the circular economy, social impact and good governance. We have a leading role in Italy on technological innovation and digitization, because on this front we will invest directly as a Group 5 billion euros over the course of our 2022-2025 Business Plan, in particular in the cloud, in intelligence artificial, in cyber-security and in the new digital bank Isybank. These investors will allow us to act not only as a systemic bank but also as a real tech company at the service of the country. We look ahead by acting in and for change, to be future-proof”.