Italy runs faster than expected on the road to recovery and the race also affects debt, demonstrating that "the problem of public debt can be solved with growth". The Prime Minister remarked, Mario Draghi, during the press conference with the Minister of Economy, Daniele Franco, on the update note of the Def approved this morning by the Council of Ministers. During his speech, the Premier made three important announcements: the first concerns foreign policy. Next October 12 "there will be an extraordinary G20 summit on Afghanistan", said Draghi. Furthermore, "the first control room on the Pnrr" is scheduled for next week, but also a provision on safety at work to try to put an end to "a massacre that continues every day".
DRAGON'S ANALYSIS ON THE NADEF
During his speech, Draghi underlined that "the economic picture is far better than what we ourselves thought it could be five months ago". “We have approved the update note to the Def which contains the government's forecasts on the trend of the economy and public finances”. The biggest surprise of the document concerns the forecasts on public debt, which is expected to fall to 153,5% of GDP this year. “Public debt is slightly decreasing and I asked myself what it means: it is the first confirmation that the problem of high public debt can be solved first of all with growth”, Draghi said.
INVESTMENTS
"Now there is trust in Italy, among Italians and in the rest of the world towards Italy, another positive news”, said the Prime Minister again. Draghi also highlighted that the Government expects an increase in investments of around 15% in 2021 and more than 6% in 2022, after a drop of 9,2% in 2020. "A rebound - said the premier - which recover all that was lost in the past year and more”. “To an international investor I would say that so far the Government has not missed a single date on its appointments, has some credibility on the execution of the agreement with the European Commission on the Pnrr and has every intention of maintaining this credibility”. "One cannot imagine that things can be postponed" - said the premier - punctuality on the measures "is a constitutive point of the Government, which will continue on this path", he reassured.
VACCINES AND RECOVERY
“What made all of this possible?” Draghi asked himself during his speech. “Vaccination is the basis of recovery – he said – the pupils went back to school: it was a difficult passage but all in all successfully resolved. This observation tells us that this is a fundamental ingredient for growth, to be protected in every way: we must do everything and if there is a resurgence we will face it without widespread hospitalizations and pressure” on hospital structures. And she stressed that "the vaccine is the only sure way to protect ourselves and our loved ones".
THE BUDGET LAW
The Premier anticipated that the budget law that the government will present in a few weeks “it will remain fundamentally expansive.” “We have to be careful which measures contribute to fair, sustainable and lasting growth and which ones are indifferent to this growth,” he stressed. "The most important challenge - she added - is to make growth fair and sustainable, lasting, structural, at higher growth rates than those before the pandemic which were really very low and were at the root of the continuous economic crisis".
TAX AND LAND REGISTRY
Answering questions from journalists, Draghi also explained that on the tax reform "it is early" to say how many resources will be allocated, while on the land registry reform he anticipated his intention to carry out "an operation of transparency". “An essentially informative, statistical presentation is made. The government's commitment is that one pays neither more nor less than before, but what needs to be done is to review the annuities as they were fixed”. The final revenue, but there will be no taxes on first homes, reassured the Premier.
DEAD AT WORK
“I would like to express the deepest condolences of the government, mine, for the deaths at work that yesterday and today have marred the scene and the psychological and economic environment of the country. The most heartfelt closeness to family members and their loved ones ". Thus began the press conference of the Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, and the Minister of Economy, Daniele Franco. Before speaking of the update note from the Def, the Premier recalled the names of the victims who lost their lives at work, anticipating the imminent arrival of measures on safety at work. “There is a need to take action immediately, by next week. And then we will address the unresolved issues,” Draghi explained. We need "more severe and immediate penalties, collaboration within the company to identify early weaknesses in terms of job security", he said again, after thanking the unions and quoting the words of the president of Confindustria Carlo Bonomi because "who is on the field, warns immediately if there are weaknesses”.
ROME AND NAPLES
During the press conference, Draghi said that “for the reclamation of the Bagnoli area in Naples, the council of ministers has decided to assign the function of commissioner to the mayor, whoever he or she is. It's a long story, we hope to do well at least by improving governance".
On the candidacy of Rome for Expo 2030, together with the 2025 Jubilee, the chief executive stated that the desire to bring such important events to the capital "tells us that the path to Rome is a path of growth, of activity, I hope that over the years it will serve to improve the economic condition and social for the city”.
THE INTERVENTION OF MINISTER FRANCO
"Even assuming a slowdown in the last part of the year, we would very easily reach 6% or in any case very close", said Economy Minister Daniele Franco during the press conference on Nadef. The minister explained that among the many encouraging figures recorded by the government there is also "the positive trend of the labor market: in July compared to January there is a 2,5% increase in the level of employment, lower than in pre-crisis but progress is positive”.
Growth in the years following the 2021 rebound, with a +1,9% forecast by the Nadef for 2024, "tends to be the growth rate we expect" and is "above the average for the last quarter of a century", he underlined the number one of the MEF. "It means that Italy is moving on a higher growth path than in the last quarter of a century and obviously the Pnrr affects".
It is also impossible not to take into account the possible obstacles. "There are risks: a recovery of the pandemic would lead to a slowdown in growth - said Franco - On the other hand, there are elements such as the liquidity accumulated by households and businesses, which suggests that the impulse to demand is stronger than expected supposed. The hypothesized scenario is not far from that of the other forecasters".
The budgetary policy, finally assured the minister, "will remain expansive" at least for 2022 and 2023.
