20/11/2011 00:00:00
On the occasion of the States General of the Confederation that will be held Tuesday, November 22 in Naples, at 10:30 am at the Chamber of Commerce, Confcommercio and Format Researches have carried out a survey on the crisis and the demands of small and medium businesses in the South. Despite more than 80% of firms in the South has suffered the repercussions of the new crisis, more than half (54%) continues to have confidence in their ability to overcome the current difficulties. Among the main consequences of the current economic times, companies report, in particular, the sales decline (a phenomenon felt by almost 3/4 of businesses and that is reflected in the decline in revenues in 2011 for 60% of companies), the increase in prices charged by suppliers (38.5%) and increased delays in payments. According to the companies in the South, the new government should take urgent action on reducing the cost of politics, on the use of European funds for the South and on the sale of public assets. The labour policies (for 82% of companies), an easier access to credit (53.2%), greater transport efficiency (49.3%), tourism (48.2%) and innovation (46.8%) policies are considered structural priority for growth. Among the facilities more needed in the South, the Strait of Messina Bridge is the last priority (6.2%), while the first is the strengthening of road and motorway network (51.4%). With the crisis, 81.7% of companies have given up on forms of innovation and a similar share will not do it even in the years 2012-2013. It remains imperative to contrast the factors that limit the competitiveness of SMEs – one over all the weight of tax burden indicated by 51% of the sample – as well as the efforts against crime, counterfeiting (up according to one business out of two) and squatting, phenomena that represent a real tax (40.9% of businesses in the South employs more than 2% of their revenues to protect themselves against theft, robbery and extortion). In short, the crisis is having a profound and extended impact on business in Southern Italy, which while maintaining the "nerves", urge the politics and the new government urgent measures to jump-start the economy and resolve the root nodes of growth of our country that heavily penalize trade, tourism and services companies.
