8 out of 10 Italians stay home this Christmas to save money amid economic crisis: Report
Italian local media say eight out of 10 citizens in the country will stay home this Christmas to save money as Italians are contending with a deepening economic crisis.
Local broadcaster RaiNews reported that skyrocketing energy bills and food prices have put extra pressure on families’ budget and forced the Italians to stay home in order to spend less on shopping for Christmas dinner.
Among the products most used for the preparation of food and Christmas dishes, the price of butter showed an annual increase of 41.2 percent, followed by flour at 23.6 percent, eggs 21.7 percent, rice 35.4 percent, pasta at 23.6 percent, and bread 16 percent.
Also, the price of a kilogram of cheese rose over 20 percent, while chicken hiked by 18 percent, compared to last year.
Italians have staged protests against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, blaming the far-right government for the simmering cost-of-living and energy crisis across the country.
“We are on the streets to tell Meloni and her government ... that it changes its route or the country will be blocked more and more to avoid a massacre for the workers and of the social mass,” said Pierpaolo Leonardi, a member of the Unione Sindacale di Base (USB).
The protesters demand that instead of allocating weapons and financial resources to Ukraine amid its war with Russia, the government should spend on the welfare of the Italian nation.
“In previous days, the government has once again allocated money for the war in Ukraine, instead of putting money into social spending, health, education and pensions. We ask that it is necessary to end the war. It is necessary to stop financing Ukraine and it is necessary to end the sanctions against Russia,” he added.
From the beginning of the Ukraine war, former prime minister Mario Draghi's administration introduced measures that made it possible to send weapons to Kiev without seeking parliamentary authorization for each shipment, a measure the government now seeks to reverse.
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