Italian economy shows positive signs

Italy's industrial turnover increased 2.0 percent and orders rose 4.6 percent in October compared to September, national statistics institute Istat said in a statement released on Wednesday.

According to figures of the Rome-based institute, industrial turnover was up 1.4 percent on the domestic market and 3.1 percent from abroad, while orders were up 3.6 percent on the domestic market and 6.0 percent from abroad.

Istat also added that industrial turnover in October of this year increased 1.6 percent and orders rose 2.2 percent over October 2014.

Italy's economy is gradually returning to growth after three years of negative figures, drawing benefits from a favorable international scenario and thanks to a government's labor reform and tax advantages, according to local experts.

"We are moving again, because when Italy does what Italy can do, nobody can beat us," Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said on Wednesday at the inauguration ceremony of a key stretch of highway connecting northern and central Italy.

Earlier this week, the Italian banking association (ABI) said the country's economy was "on a path of clear recovery" and expected the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 1.5 percent in 2016 and by 1.7 percent in 2017.

On Tuesday, the government's budget bill of 35 billion euros (38 billion U.S. dollars) got final approval from parliament. Among the new measures, there were the striking down of two taxes particularly unpopular among low-wage workers and the extension of a so-called no tax area for pensioners.

Low-wage workers and pensioners are among the most vulnerable categories in Italy. In recent times the government has been faced with the protests of hundreds of citizens who saw their investments go up in smoke after the government rescued from bankruptcy four banks in financial trouble in November.

On Wednesday, finance police searched the offices of one of them, Banca Popolare dell'Etruria e del Lazio, in relation to the suicide of Luigino D'Angelo, a pensioner aged 68 who recently hung himself at his home after losing more than 100,000 euros (over 108,765 U.S. dollars) that he had invested in the bank.

The government has charged the Italian anti-corruption agency with arbitrating claims for compensation for small investors, who said they were misled by the four rescued banks about the risks of their investments. Endit