The Confederation of Italian companies estimates that nearly 120,000 companies are threatened with bankruptcy.
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On August 30, the Confederation of Italian companies, an organization which brings together 80,000 SMEs from the peninsula, organized an online seminar, bringing together economists and unionists. The theme addressed: the consequences of the energy crisis on the Italian entrepreneurial fabric. What make the atmosphere to say the least. “With an increase of 450 % of prices for a year, it is as if we have worked with a pistol on the temple,” said Carlos Sorrentino, secretary general of the Confederation.
The time is an emergency, recalled the managers of this group of small bosses. According to them, 120,000 companies are threatened by bankruptcy in Italy due to the outbreak of energy costs, and no less than 370,000 jobs are at stake. According to Confederation calculations, energy expenditure , of gas and electricity will be confused this year at 33 billion euros, just for the tertiary sector, three times more than in 2021.
Unsurprisingly, it is the companies in the energy -consuming sectors that are the most affected. In Cività Castellana, in the province of Viterbe (Latium), the cradle of the Italian ceramic industry, dozens of family businesses are currently experiencing fear in the stomach. For some SMEs, energy suppliers have requested advances to ensure payment of invoices. The boss of Olympia, a company with forty employees, had to borrow 300,000 euros at the request of ENI, the Italian energy group. “If we had not acceded to this request, they would have closed our taps,” he said on a daily basis he fato daily.
penalized by competition
In several companies in the region, ceramic ovens have been extinguished pending government measures. From 20,424 euros for the month of July 2021, the gas bill of the Olympia company rose to more than 110,000 euros in July of this year. Like many other Italian SMEs, Cività Castellana ceramic companies export a large part of their production and are penalized by competition. “The Germans, the Turks or the Spaniards can count on a ceiling on the price of gas. All this may rule out from the market,” worries Olympia manager.
Among the most affected sectors is also the tourism industry. Even if since the spring Italy has been full of vacationers, finding levels before the pandemic, many companies in the sector are sounding the alarm, the increases being so strong that they cannot be reflected entirely on tourists. Marina Lalli, President of Fedeturismo, the Tourism branch within the Confindustria, Italian employers, asked that the question of the cost of energy is at the top of the proposals of candidates for the next elections of September 25.
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