The association’s president, Marco Venturi, told a press conference: “It’s a massacre”.
Confesercenti said last week there will be no small shops left in in Italy within ten years if the current rate of decline continues.
The decline could be stymied if Italy qualifies for German government loans as part of a plan by German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble to help support struggling economies in southern Europe.
If the scheme get the go-ahead, then a credit scheme already in the pipeline for small and medium-sized businesses in Spain would be extended to Italy and Portugal. Under plans for Spain, Germany’s KfW public investment bank will offer €800 million in loans to businesses through Spain’s ICO bank.
Member comments