At the beginning of this year it was estimated that the Italian economy would return to the, albeit modest, growth of the ten years preceding the crisis. In the first quarter GDP grew by 0.5 per cent compared with the previous quarter; there was an improvement in the opinions of firms, especially exporters, regarding the performance of orders and their expectations for production.
133 billion 6%  $ 300 million per month $ 13 billion Rs. 600 billion Stable $ 950 million $ 12.0 billion Data not available but perhaps rising Rs. 161 billion 8%  Positive  Exports Tax Revenues Rupee-Dollar Parity Foreign Direct Investment Foreign Exchange Reserves Poverty Incidence  $ 88 million per month $ 7.8 billion Rs.