"Cumulative Data" compiled by Mediobanca's Study Area says that in 2023, tangible investments by the 1900 companies, expressed at constant prices, marked a 4.3% increase over 2022. The most striking aspect concerns the trend that contrasts the public sector, +19.5% over the previous year, with the private sector, which is in decline (-3.1%). Manufacturing did not make significant deviations on 2022 (+0.2%), while the tertiary sector is in marked regression (-6.3%), affecting the performance of foreign-controlled groups (-7.4%). In the public segment, investments benefited from the development of renewable energy sources, the modernization and digitalization of networks for the purpose of electrification and decarbonization of consumption, and the installation of infrastructure to serve electric mobility. The impetus given to tangible investments by the public segment is also evident by relating their size to cash-flow: in 2023 the incidence stood at 74.9%, having already risen to 60.2% in 2022, compared to 46.9% on average in 2015-21. The picture for the private segment was different: the share of cash-flow absorbed by investment in 2023 stood at 44.8%, down from an average 53.1% in 2015-21. Similar trends apply to manufacturing, with an investment-to-cash-flow ratio of 38.2% in 2023, about 8 points below the 2015-21 average. Net of the renewable energy component, the 2023 investment campaign thus appears to be under the banner of caution induced by the prospective uncertainty of the environment and the level of interest rates. “The albeit generous cash-flow,” Mediobanca concludes, “has not been able to counter the general instability”.