Consumer spending in Italy held steady in May compared with the level in April, the national statistical institute ISTAT said on Thursday.

The seasonally adjusted figures showed retail sales unchanged, sales of non-food products up 0.2 percent and food products down 0.6 percent.

Raw year-on-year figures showed retail sales down 2.9 percent.

The ISTAT figures are worse than expected.

A Dow Jones Newswires consensus forecast a monthly increase of 0.1 percent and a year-on-year decline of no more than 0.9 percent.