Italian businesses expect economy to grow

Rome - Italy's economy is set to exit from a record-length recession and could post the strongest growth since the beginning of the millennium over the next two years, business lobby Confindustria predicted on Wednesday.

"For the Italian economy, 2015 is more and more turning out to be a watershed year," Confindustria said in a monthly economic outlook report.

It said output and job creation would probably increase "by far more" than forecast until now, thanks to a drop in oil prices, the devaluation of the euro against the dollar and falling interest rates aided by recent European Central Bank (ECB) decisions.

"These factors, together with a more buoyant world trade, tend to lift gross domestic product (GDP) by 2.1% this year and by a further 2.5% in the following one," Confindustria wrote.

In December, the business lobby issued far more prudent forecasts, predicting 0.5% growth for this year, rising to 1.1% in 2016.

Italy is the eurozone's third-largest economy and has long been a laggard in the currency bloc. GDP growth has been in negative territory since mid-2011, and the last time it grew by more than 2% on an annual basis was in 2000.

On Monday, the deputy director of the Bank of Italy, Fabio Panetta, also said that economic growth in the coming months was going to be "significantly higher" than previously anticipated, but did not give any figures.