The Bank of Italy has presented its annual report on Tuscany’s economy, finding that regional output grew only modestly in 2024 and that underlying activity remained in a negative cyclical phase. Its quarterly regional indicator (ITER) points to a 0.6% increase in output, compared with 0.7% for Italy, while Regio-coin Toscana continued to signal weakness in the fundamentals of GDP. Manufacturing provided little support to growth due to the crisis in the regional fashion industry, only partly offset by pharmaceuticals and jewellery boosted by foreign demand; services expanded slightly and tourism rose only in foreign visitor numbers, while construction remained positive thanks to public works linked in part to National Recovery and Resilience Plan projects. Despite the soft cycle, profitability stayed positive for a broad set of firms and liquidity remained high; employment increased but use of social safety-net schemes also rose, wages accelerated after contract renewals and lower inflation helped deliver a modest rise in consumption. Weak loan demand and cautious supply conditions coincided with a fall in credit to firms, still pronounced for smaller companies, while household lending continued to grow on the back of consumer credit and a rebound in mortgages; overall credit quality was broadly stable but the corporate loan deterioration rate edged up. For the current year, the report flags high uncertainty, with Tuscany’s strong international openness exposing exporters and workers to shifts in partner-country trade policies, including recently introduced US tariff measures that could weigh materially on exports. It also notes that foreign demand, long a key driver, has been insufficient to sustain growth since the pandemic, even as the region has seen more local units of firms in international groups and relatively strong patenting activity in its university system, alongside innovative start-ups whose per-capita presence remains below average.

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