Italy's economy posts first quarterly contraction since 2020

ANKARA

Italy's economy has posted its first quarterly contraction since 2020 due to the negative impact of the Russia-Ukraine war and rising commodity prices.

Gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2022 fell 0.2% from the previous quarter, according to data released by the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) on Friday.

This marks the first quarterly contraction since the final quarter of 2020, when the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic was in full effect.

"The quarter-on-quarter change is the result of an increase of value added in agriculture, forestry and fishing, a decrease in that of services and a stationarity in industry," ISTAT said in a statement.

However, GDP in the first quarter of 2022 rose 5.8% over the same quarter of the previous year, it said.