Ignazio Visco is pressing the government. The governor of the Bank of Italy, speaking at the 26th Assiom Forex Congress, stated clearly that "to counter the pessimistic assessments that still weigh on our economy the public investment program needs to be fully implemented of the government and to base interventions in the field of taxation on an overall vision of the tax system". Visco added that we need to "reduce the uncertainty, including legislation, which holds back private investment".
Precisely on the slowdown in the economy, and on the need for a return to growth which necessarily passes through an action by the executive, Visco reminded the financial audience that "the preliminary estimate by Istat indicates a drop in the product of 0,3 per cent in the fourth quarter of last year, presumably also reflecting a particularly unfavorable evolution of the more erratic components of final demand. Domestically, financial markets are currently benefiting from the decline in political uncertainty. But chronic vulnerability has not yet been overcome linked to the medium-term prospects of public finance and economic growth".
Moreover, the risks linked, at a global level, to the coronavirus epidemic are now added to the well-known reasons for the slowdown: "We are evaluating the impact of the coronavirus on the Italian economy, it is difficult to estimate the effects, but considering the precedent of Sars, it could be temporary and contained within a few tenths of GDP".
The governor did not miss the opportunity to intervene on the latest banking case, that of the Popolare di Bari, defending the supervisory activity of the Bank of Italy: “The supervisory action, even on small banks, is intense. And it remains – Visco added very significantly – within the sphere of the powers assigned to the supervisory authority and in full compliance with the corporate nature of the banking activity, as well as with the provisions of the law, without dirigiste intentions or connivance”.
Visco therefore defended the action of Bank of Italy which "takes into account, as much as possible, the economic and market context in which the
intermediaries operate, as well as the difficulties both in the restructuring and recovery processes of the banks, and in crisis management. I consider baseless e the insinuation of extreme condescension is highly offensive of the heads of the Bank of Italy in the case of Popolare di Bari”, added the governor off the cuff.
