Bank of Italy sees inflation rate at 3.5% for 12 months

The Bank of Italy expects the inflation rate in Italy to average out at 3.5% over the next 12 months, compared to its 3.3% forecast in March.
In its report for the second quarter, published on Wednesday, the central bank said the general economic outlook remained negative even though the percentage of business operators who said they were pessimistic had fallen by 23% over the first quarter.
The Bank of Italy's report was based on a survey of 477 enterprises which had at least 50 employees, with 285 in the industrial sector and 192 in the services sector.
Just over half of these enterprises said the economic situation in Italy had worsened compared to the first quarter, while 44.3% said it was unchanged and 5.8% saw some improvement.
In regard to investment, 37.5% of the enterprises quizzed said conditions to invest were worse than they were in the first three months of the year, 53.8% said they were unchanged and 8.7% said they had improved.