Although the current cash crunch will be felt, the Italian retailers' association Confcommercio said on Thursday that it did not expect to see any significant drop in consumer spending this Christmas.
Italy, observed Confcommercio chief Carlo Sangalli, ''can hope for an effect similar to the one which has been seen in the United States, where there has been a 17% increase in early Christmas spending''.
According to Sangalli there are three main reasons why there will not be a steep drop in consumer holiday spending: ''the first is that the tradition of buying gifts is firmly rooted; the second is that Christmas bonus will make cash available; and the third is that one out of three gifts purchased will have been bought because they are on sale or sold at a discounted to boost buying''.
Sangalli expressed his disappointed that the government did not decided to make Christmas bonuses tax-free, as the Confcommercio has asked, because ''this would have certainly been an appropriate act to give a jolt to the economy''.
Nevertheless, Sangalli said the government's proposed anti-crisis package was generally positive and said ''we support it because it goes in the right direction, although a little more courage is needed''.
Consumer groups do not share Confcommercio's rosy predictions for consumer spending at Christmas and predicted that, depending on the sector, there will be declines in spending of between 15% and 20%, except for food.
The groups also criticised expected prices hikes during the Christmas holiday period, including double-digit increases for Christmas trees and other traditional holiday products, and said this will only discourage consumer spending.
