There was a full house this morning at the Bank of Italy's headquarters in via Nazionale in Rome for the latest final considerations by Governor Ignazio Visco who will end his mandate in November after 12 years at the helm of the Italian Central Bank.
Also in the front row was the former prime minister and former president of the ECB, Mario Draghi. Next to him Mario Monti, Gianni Letta, Lamberto Dini, Daniele Franco and Antonio Patuelli. Obviously, the top management of the main Italian banks were also present, who then commented on Visco's speech.
Padoan (Unicredit): "Visco's contribution to what the Bank of Italy has done for Italy should be recognized"
Governor Visco's speech "recalled the great effort that the bank has made in recent years and his personal contribution to what the bank has done for the country must be recognized and the country must be forever grateful to him", he said Pier Carlo Padoan, president of Unicredit, commenting on the Governor's latest Final Thoughts. "The report was so complex and articulated that it covered practically all the points and rightly started from the serious global crisis we are in due to the Russian aggression against Ukraine", concluded Padoan.
Messina (Intesa): "Considerations made with the heart"
“These are considerations made with the heart. I caught a big one attention to young people, to the future of our country and an invitation to all of us to do everything possible to make this country grow more and that the GDP can generate sustainable growth and work and employment, dignity and great attention to the containment of the public debt which today is the 'only point of weakness and must be managed with great care. These are considerations that I totally shared”. She said it the managing director of Intesa Sanpaolo, Carlo Messina.
According to Messina “The geopolitical context is still very complex but if we look at last year's expectations, everyone was talking about a recessionary environment. Today the assessment is that economic growth could be between 0,8 and 1,2%, therefore a context in which I would maintain a positive approach to the dynamics of the country”. “What worries me – added Messina – is the strong growth of inequalities and poverty and some aspects on which it is necessary to intervene. But in overall terms businesses and households are maintaining very positive values. The aspect of inequality and poverty are aspects on which we must all pay attention”.
Scannapieco (Cdp): "With Pnrr peak of investments, but reforms are needed"
Governor Visco's call for prudent management of public finances that does not detriment the level of public investment was commented on byCEO of Cdp, Dario Scannapieco, upon leaving the Bank of Italy. “With the Pnrr we will see a peak in investments but we can't afford to go back to the pre-Pnrr situation in terms of growth, so we have to work on investments and reforms that make it easier to achieve them and thus we will avoid going back to the years in which the GDP grew by zero point". Scannapieco then underlined the fact that Visco made an "accurate and very interesting" analysis in particular on the importance of knowledge and skills: "the graph on the number of graduates in Italy compared to the rest of Europe is not good, we need to try to push on that.”
Patuelli (Abi): "Balanced and very wise considerations"
“Governor Visco's considerations are balanced and very wise. They indicate strengthening of the economic-financial world, banking in particular, with forward-looking underlining of the risks that exist for various factors that should not be underestimated", declared the president of ABI Antonio Patuelli. Among these risks, also those related to the “credit deterioration, the new need for attention to liquidity as well as capital ratios, in a phase that is approaching the entry into force of Basel 3+”, he concluded.
Marcegaglia: "Visco good for young people and market opening"
“I really liked it, especially two aspects, the first being the acknowledgment that Italy has reacted well to the dramatic shocks we've had – and also the acknowledgment that businesses have done better, but also a great I call everyone to invest in human capital especially on young people, this is the big issue, we must leave a better world for young people”, said the entrepreneur Emma Marcegaglia. "And then the theme that I share, that in this era of greater regionalization and market closures, we must maintain an openness of markets, of globalization, because an excess of closure is not good for Italy, for businesses and citizens ", he added.
Landini (Cgil): "Considerations on taxation and wages are acceptable"
In the final considerations of the governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, there are “some shareable elements”, said the general secretary of the CGIL, Maurizio Landini, referring to the governor's passages on tax and wages. “One theme I haven't heard though is that inflation is not determined by wages but by profits ed extra profits due to price increases. A solidarity contribution is needed to redistribute wealth”, underlined the secretary. “The level of precariousness is too high and wages are too low. I agree, you need a minimum wage, but not only. Alongside, there is also a need for a law on representation and the renewal of contracts with wage increases”, Landini reiterated. “We also need a tax reform and I agree with the passage in which Visco says that the reform must be consistent with our Constitution, i.e. progressive and based on the ability to pay, which however means no flat tax and something different from what the government".
Sbarra (Cisl): "The report highlights a burning question of wages"
“Today's report by the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Visco, has highlighted, among other things, justly a hot salary issue, further aggravated by inflation which calls for the common construction of a new and effective incomes policy based on the centrality of social and industrial relations. We need a triangular agreement between the government, trade unions and companies to act, without demagoguery, on concrete levers that cross the tax authorities, bargaining, the renewal of all public and private contracts, the increase and redistribution of productivity, the fight against speculation , price and tariff control. In this context, we think we should also consider a law that guarantees erga omnes to the overall economic treatment of the most applied national contracts, sector by sector, according to the data already in possession of the INPS", underlined the general secretary of the CISL, Luigi Sbarra, according to which “Solo extending the contents of the leading CCNLs, moreover, as the European Commission indicates for our country, we can guarantee adequate salaries, ensuring the right dynamism to salary dynamics, avoiding the risk of a downward pressure on average salaries, as would happen if the quantum were imposed by the Official Gazette"-
