The weight of organized crime on the Italian economy is alarming. The governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, said it in no uncertain terms during a hearing before the Anti-Mafia Commission.
Crime is one of the major obstacles to growth and its turnover is impressive: according to the Governor it is worth over 10% of GDP, i.e. about 150 billion euros. This is the amount of illegal practices that have to do with drugs, prostitution, alcohol and tobacco smuggling.
Precisely the presence of very strong criminal and mafia infiltrations in the Italian economy discourages foreign capital from landing in Italy. Visco has calculated that in six years crime has caused Italy to lose the beauty of 16 billion euros of foreign investments. "If the Italian institutions - said the number one of the Bank of Italy - had been qualitatively similar to those of the euro area, between 2006 and 2012 the flows of foreign investments in Italy would have been 15% higher - almost 16 billion euros – to direct investments actually attracted in the period”
The flight of Italian capital to tax havens is very strong, attracting financial flows that are 36% higher than the flows to "normal" countries.
The Governor's hearing strengthens, according to many MPs, the belief that the Government must step up its game and that the fight against organized crime must increasingly become a priority of the country's politics and economic policy.
