According to a new report by the General Confederation of Italian Industry (Confindustria), households in Italy are cutting back on their food spending due to the soaring inflation afflicting the country.

According to the report, there has been a “sharp decline” in household spending on groceries. Grocery spending fell by 3.7% in 2022, and by 8.7% in the fourth quarter of 2022, in comparison to the first quarter of 2021.

Confindustria wrote, “This has become a burden on overall consumption, given that spending on food accounts for 14% of all expenses, second only to spending on housing, water and energy (23%).”

Head of the National Consumer Union (UNC), Massimiliano Dona, said the report was “alarming,” and added that, “Italians are on a forced diet due to skyrocketing inflation.”

He went on to point out that since, “consumption represents 60% of GDP and that, if Italians don’t buy, then merchants don’t sell and businesses do not produce,” the situation is poised to have a major negative impact on economic growth.

UNC experts noted that they had first seen the trend of Italians reducing their expenditures on food during the pandemic. Their analysts found that purchases decreased by 4.4% in physical terms year over year, and by 6.3% in comparison to the same month in 2021.