Italy To Seek New EU Deal To Keep Economy On Track
Faizan Hashmi Published August 13, 2016 | 05:06 PM
ROME,(APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 13th Augst,2016) : Italy is to seek a new deal with the European Union to allow it to kickstart its stalling economy with an expansionary 2017 budget, a government minister said Saturday. Economic Development Minister Carlo Calenda's comments came three months after Rome was granted "unprecedented" leeway over its 2016 budget and warned by the European Commission that it should be tightening fiscal policy next year. Calenda spoke out after data published on Friday showed the Italian economy failed to grow between the first and second quarters of this year, suggesting a sluggish recovery which began last year has stalled. Analysts say the government will now have to revise downwards its forecasts of growth of 1.2 percent for this year and 1.4 percent in 2017, with knock-on effects on its deficit reduction plans. "The Treasury will present updated figures in September.
I can't hide the fact that the room for manoeuvre is tight," Calenda told Turin daily La Stampa.
"We are discussing with Europe how to address the absolute necessity of boosting public and private investment." Calenda implied that could mean allowing the 2017 budget deficit to run higher than previously planned, possibly up to the three percent of GDP ceiling enshrined in the eurozone's rules. The Commission has set Italy a deficit target of 1.8 percent for 2017, arguing that kind of adjustment is necessary to reverse the upward trend in the country's huge debt, which hit a record of just under 2.25 trillion Euros ($2.51 trillion) in June. "We intend to respect the rules but we are also fighting to change them," Calenda said.
"The unbreachable limit is the debt, which cannot increase. "We have already obtained a lot of flexibility, we intend to ask for more, the maximum possible, but always within the rules." Other Italian newspapers were unanimous Saturday in predicting that Prime Minister Matteo Renzi would defy Brussels by presenting an expansionary budget in mid-October.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
HEC reviews curricula for environmental sciences degree programme
ICC Asia looking forward to an action-packed Asia Cricket Week
Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador
Greece hands Olympic flame to 2024 Paris Games hosts
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
Heavy rains cause damage to Spezand-Taftan railway track
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
More Stories From World
-
NFL will allow players to wear Guardian Cap helmets in games
5 hours ago -
Football: German Bundesliga table
5 hours ago -
Football: Italian Serie A result
5 hours ago -
Football: German Bundesliga results
5 hours ago -
US troops to leave Chad in second African state withdrawal
5 hours ago -
Plastics pollution may be solved without production cap: Canada minister
5 hours ago
-
Biden stalls on menthol cigarette ban fearing Black vote backlash
5 hours ago -
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
5 hours ago -
6,000 French police to welcome Olympic torch amid bonus boost
5 hours ago -
Taiwan hit by several quakes, strongest reaching 6.1-magnitude
6 hours ago -
'Ballistic' Bairstow stars as Punjab pull off record T20 chase
6 hours ago -
Tennis: ATP/WTA Madrid Open results - 2nd update
6 hours ago