Sardinia, prices rise and consumption collapses: "And in the summer there will be a new blow"

The only way to make ends meet is to make drastic choices . Pay a bill or buy a new pair of pants; do the shopping for the whole week or change the tires on the car, buy school books for the children or plan the summer holidays. Small and large sacrifices that more and more families on the Island have to face in the face of the inexorable increase in prices compared to the same salaries received years ago.

And now, almost without realizing it, the middle class that could aspire to a peaceful life, sweetened by some luxurious whim, finds itself on the brink of the abyss of poverty with the constant fear that some unexpected expense every month could push it over the precipice.

The latest Istat data are alarming. Families are spending more to buy less and the difference is also felt compared to last year, a period that was already critical for household budgets. And if all this were not enough to understand the gravity of the current economic situation, Confcommercio has widened the spotlight by analyzing the trend in consumption over the last six years, going back to 2019, the last year of the pre-Covid era. The results are serious: in the last six years, families have given up almost everything. From restaurants and clubs, whose demand has collapsed by more than 13%, to clothing (-22.6%), to the disaster in air transport (-38.1%). Even food is being cut: almost 6% less than in 2019, but also almost 3% between last year and this year.

And if the bloodbath at the beginning of the year has perhaps taken by surprise the Sardinians who were convinced that the worst was over, the coming months could be even worse . "The usual summer blow awaits us," assures Giuliano Frau, regional president of Adoc. "A physiological speculation that is triggered every year by the invasion of tourists who are offered higher prices. And those who pay the indirect costs are the Sardinians who live on the island all year round and passively suffer the price increases."

And in the meantime, the queue at the Caritas soup kitchen in Cagliari grows every day . "It is a time when the crisis is biting primarily on the housing front, finding a home is the drama of many. At the same time we are faced with growing requests from new poor people and those who, despite having a salary, are no longer able to meet financial commitments or pay bills", explains Don Marco Lai, director of the diocesan Caritas.