Confesercenti Campania, here is the parachute against the high cost for regional businesses

Confesercenti Campania, here is the parachute against the high cost for regional businesses

Initiative to flush out the high cost of energy, the president Vincenzo Schiavo: "Our registered businesses have access to a credit line to advance their bills. 11 businesses are at risk of closure, and the shadow of organized crime is also creeping in.". National data: consumption less than 2.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022.

Confesercenti Campania, together of course with Confesercenti Nazionale, is taking the field alongside businesses, once again, to support them in a dramatic moment due to the considerable increase in energy costs associated with inflation (with a drop in consumption) increasingly beyond warning levels.

"Just as at a national level, we are also working on our territory to put - comments Vincenzo Schiavo, president of Confesercenti Campania and national vice president with responsibility for Southern Italy - We are offering our member businesses a credit line to advance their utility bills: we plan to support all our registered businesses for the next six months. Clearly, we can only provide this for a limited number of businesses, but we hope to be a trailblazer. Urgent government intervention is needed. Our president, Patrizia De Luise, has written to the Prime Minister to request not only a cap on electricity and gas rates based on average costs for 2021, but also to provide businesses with zero-interest loans, guaranteed by the Central Guarantee Fund, with five-year installments, to pay their bills. We have also asked the government to address bank charges, which, given the current situation, should be eliminated for the next six months. While we wait for clear policy responses, Confesercenti will finance this business support initiative with its own bank, Cassa del Microcredito, Commerfin, and Italia Confidi. We think we can reach financing of between 5 and 200 million for Italian companies, but the Government must provide us with these guarantees."

The situation is worsening: as if the high cost of bills were not enough, according to estimates by Confesercenti Nazionale, in Italy the reduction in the purchasing power of families will produce a sharp slowdown in consumption: with current inflation levels, spending would decrease by 2,5 billion compared to the third quarter of 2022. The prospects for 2023 have also become very weak, when the increase in consumption would stop at +0,6%, compared to inflation that would remain above 5% on average per year. A slowdown that would postpone the recovery in consumption to a date to be determined: at the end of 2023, 28,6 billion would still be missing compared to the pre-pandemic period, with consumption that would return to 2016 levels.

A heavy reduction in family well-being: according to Ipsos surveys for Confesercenti, 73% of Italians have difficulty or are unable to cope with the increase in energy bills. And 92% plan to cut their spending, starting with those for restaurants, bars, holidays and clothing.

Obviously, businesses also suffer, with an even more complicated situation in the South and in Campania, as Vincenzo Schiavo underlines: We need to help businesses, and we need to do it now. Before the criminal underworld gets involved. There's no time to waste. High utility bills threaten to cause more damage than Covid in our region. According to data from our research center, 11 businesses in Campania are unable to afford energy costs. And if you don't pay your bill, after twenty days, the supply is cut off, meaning they're forced to close. Forty thousand families risk being left homeless in the coming weeks. This is the worst time for businesses in three years. The risk that criminal underworld will take advantage of this by financing bill payments is extremely high, especially in some areas of Naples and its hinterland.