Emilia Romagna: companies continue to invest
16/10/2023
Emilia Romagna: companies continue to invest despite the uncertain scenario with a percentage of 23% more than the previous year.
According to a survey recently carried out by Confindustria Emilia-Romagna, companies in the region are continuing to make investments in a precise and systematic way, focusing on investments of managerial nature, in production lines, in research and development and also in new buildings.
Particular attention is also paid to respect for the environment with specific investments linked to energy saving and environmental protection.
In terms of numbers, we are talking about investments during 2022 equal to 5% of turnover, with an increase of 23% compared to the previous year. For the year 2023 the forecasts are positive: 88% of companies expect to make investments, a significant share but with a small decrease compared to 2022.
According to the President of Confindustria Emilia-Romagna Annalisa Sassi «The drive of companies to invest has also contributed in 2022 to keeping the growth rate of the regional economy high. Entrepreneurs from Emilia-Romagna have continued to invest despite an uncertain and turbulent scenario, characterized by the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the explosion in energy and raw material costs, the increase in inflation and the rise in interest rates. Great attention is needed to accompany and support above all small businesses, which have structurally lower investment opportunities than medium-large ones due to a lower financial capacity and greater difficulty in finding qualified human resources. Forecasts for 2023 are positive but necessarily cautious. The caution is accentuated by the possible effects of the recent floods on the production system, not included in our survey, which could reduce the growth dynamics of Emilia-Romagna".
The main factors hindering investment decisions are the fear of a slowdown in demand, together with the difficulty of finding human resources, the increase in energy costs, together with an uncertainty about financial resources. Finally, the gap between small and large companies was highlighted: almost all medium-large companies have in fact invested, while one in five small companies did not make investments in 2022.
