Some contracts signed in the third quarter of 2017 (trade, telecommunications, goods transport and logistics, postal services) provide for significant wage increases (see Banca d’Italia, 2018). Moreover, unlike in the previous two-year period, they did not incorporate automatic adjustments for actual inflation, which could limit wage growth in a context of low inflation.
7  demand; it was more than 5 per cent in 2017, despite the appreciation of the euro. The balance on current account, which had been positive since 2013, recorded a surplus of nearly 3 per cent of GDP in 2017.