Il Bonus 200 euro launched by the government to fight inflation, although intended for a wide audience, “could contribute significantly to offsetting the impact of price and tariff increases on lower-spending householdsmore dependent on energy consumption". She said it on Monday Lilia Cavallari, president of the Parliamentary Budgetary Office, during a hearing on the aid decree before the House Budget and Finance Committees.
Furthermore, according to the Upb simulations, the complex of interventions which have occurred since Sostegni-bis decree of May 2021 should allow “of fully protect the purchasing power of households with lower spending power”. In reference toentire population, however, the measures introduced should allow “to limit the loss of purchasing power to values close to 2% on average".
Expensive energy: in two years the Government has allocated 28,5 billion
In detail, calculates the Upb, between 2021 and 2022 the State put in place 28,5 billion euros (of which 23,6 this year) to mitigate the effect of rising energy prices. Of these, 8 billion are in favor of families, 7,4 billion for the benefit of businesses and 13,1 billion are intended to support both the former and the latter.
In addition to the 200 euro bonus, which is a one-off transfer, households also benefit from other important measures:
- la reduction of the tariff components of energy goods, which has a greater impact on the budgets of the poorest families, but alone is not enough to offset the increase in electricity and gas bills;
- il enhancement of social bonuses, which in turn favor families with lower consumption more, both because they are attributed on the basis of the ISEE, and because, like the 200 euro bonus, they are usually disbursed in a fixed amount, and are therefore more effective for those who earn less .
“The combined action of interventions on tariffs, social bonuses and the one-off indemnity tends to offset the burden deriving from price increases in a decreasing manner as the equivalent family expenditure increases”, Cavallari explains.
“Inflation maybe persistent, ahead with reforms”
As for the general picture of prices, according to the president of the Parliamentary Budgetary Office “the possibility cannot be ruled out that inflation will manifest itself more persistently compared to what was prefigured in the baseline scenarios of the macroeconomic forecasts. The conduct of economic policy could therefore have to deal with nominal dynamics that are still high in the coming quarters: it therefore appears necessary to combine the emergency measures with the strengthening and acceleration of the reform action, aimed at untying the structural problems of the Italian economy and jointly addressing the new challenges of energy independence and ecological transition”.
