The Italian public debt should rise to 132,2% of GDP in 2014 against the 129% indicated by the Ministry of Economy in mid-April. This can be read in the draft of the update to the Pnr, the National Reform Programme, which the Treasury is about to disseminate by 20 September together with the new macroeconomic and public finance framework.
Listing "as a priority" the measures that the government intends to adopt in the coming months, the draft speaks of the need to "realize the structural primary surpluses planned to direct the very high debt/GDP ratio (according to forecasts at 132,2% of GDP in 2014) on a steadily downward trajectory". The document confirms the commitment to "ensure that in 2013 the deficit remains below 3% of GDP", since Italy "cannot afford to go back on the infringement procedure".
Listing the priorities of future fiscal policy, the Ministry of the Economy undertakes to "transfer the tax burden from labor and capital to consumption, real estate and the environment, ensuring budget neutrality". "To this end" the government will try to "reduce the size of the tax wedge" and to "review the scope of application of the VAT exemptions and reduced rates and direct tax breaks and proceed with the land registry reform by aligning the estimates and rents at market values”.
