Confcommercio revises 2014 growth forecast up to 0.5%

'Could be higher if Renzi follows through on tax cuts'

(ANSA) - Cernobbio, March 21 - Retailers' association Confcommercio revised its 2014 GDP growth forecast for Italy up from 0.3% to 0.5% on Friday, citing the possibility for further growth that could bump up GDP by 0.8% on the year if Premier Matteo Renzi follows through on cutting taxes for households and businesses.

Confcommercio said that if the government fulfills plans to cut income taxes by 10 billion euros and business taxes by 2.4 billion euros, gross domestic product could grow by another 0.3%, bringing its estimate for the year to 0.8%. Consumption for 2014 is forecast to remain stagnant, up from a drop of 0.2%.

But Renzi's cuts could raise them too, up to 1%, according to a Confcommercio study. Otherwise consumption won't increase until 2015 by 0.7%, it said. Meanwhile the retailers' group forecast next year's GDP growth at 0.9%.