Standard & Poor's: low growth rates could nullify the cuts decided in the manoeuvre

The 47 billion euro budget package approved yesterday evening by the Council of Ministers may not be sufficient to reduce Italy's public debt, especially given the country's modest growth prospects. The opinion was formulated by the rating company Standard & Poor's which however underlined how some of the measures decided by the executive will help to increase the country's competitiveness, in particular the cut to high-end state salaries and the "rationalization of the complex system of tax deductions". Despite these positive news, according to S&P analysts, the fact that Italian GDP per capita growth was -0,9% between 2005 and 2011 should have prompted far more radical interventions in both the micro and macroeconomic fields to encourage private investment and align payroll with productivity. It is mainly for these reasons that according to S&P there continues to be a one in three chance that the country will face a downgrade of its debt rating in the next 24 months.