Italy is growing more than expected and after the advances of recent days, the government has put pen to paper the new figures of the Economic and Finance Document (Def), updating it yesterday evening, Friday, in the Council of Ministers.
Growth for this year goes from 0,7 to 0,9 percent while for 2016 the upward correction is from +1,4 to +1,6 percent. The "total" flexibility obtainable in 2016 (between that already granted by the EU and that included in the Update Note of the Def) is equal to 0,8% of GDP or about 13 billion euros. But it could rise to 16 as the government expects to ask Europe for 3 billion to manage the immigration emergency. The balanced budget slips further forward. The government has in fact revised upwards the deficit target in 2016 to 2,2% of GDP compared to the value of 1,8% in April. It would rise to 2,4% if the EU accepted the request for a further 0,2% of flexibility (to about 3 billion) for welcoming migrants. In this way, yesterday's update moves the break-even objective from 2017 to 2018. The approval of the update of the Def was a fundamental step in view of the Stability Law which must be presented in Brussels by 15 October.
“This is the moment in which all together we must push with even more determination because the objective recovery has started in Italy thanks to the measures and the reforms. In 2015 we made a breakthrough, in 2016 we accelerated”, was Matteo Renzi's comment in presenting the new updated objectives of the Def. “They expected a lower figure than our growth - he added - but today many indicators say that Italy has restarted and the Def can only photograph the state of the art, higher growth, +0,9% for the 2015. There is higher growth than expected, less 40% layoffs, more stable jobs, more tourism, more consumption”.
"From 2016 the debt will begin to decrease, it has not happened since 2007, it is a ballast that we are starting to lighten", observed in turn the Minister of Economy, Pier Carlo Padoan at the end of the CDM. "There will also be fewer taxes in the stability law, with the deactivation of the safeguard clauses, and therefore there will be support for domestic demand for growth driven by household demand," he added.
