Italian government announces ‘brave and responsible’ budget plan

Simona Granati | Corbis | Corbis News | Getty Images

ROME, ITALY – OCTOBER 02: Minister Luigi Di Maio during the Press conference of Movimento 5 Stelle and Lega for the presentation of proposals for constitutional reform and decrease in the number of parliamentarians on October 2, 2018 in Rome, Italy. 

Italy’s anti-establishment government has announced its new strategy to financial policy: a “brave and responsible” initiative, but the European Union and the markets are yet to accept it.

Italy has put forward its final budget targets for the coming years on Thursday evening, ending weeks of speculation about its spending plans. The government cut growth forecasts and went ahead with higher spending, despite some backlash from European officials. The populist cabinet made it clear however that the expenses would not only involve social measures but also with investments.

“As stated on several occasions, the budget manoeuvre that this Government is preparing to launch is brave and responsible, focusing on the growth and well-being of citizens,” the Italian finance minister Giovanni Tria said Thursday in a letter to the European Commission.

On Thursday, Rome cut this year’s growth forecast to 1.2 percent from a previous estimate of 1.5 percent. Due to planned “public and private investments, lower tax burden on small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed workers”, the growth rate is expected to be 1.5 percent in 2019, followed by 1.6 percent in 2020 and 1.4 percent in 2021.

The lower growth forecasts sent Italy’s main stock index lower on Friday morning and pushed Italy’s borrowing costs slightly higher too. Investors are concerned that a growth rate around 1 percent and higher spending will put Italy at risk. Italy has the second largest debt pile in Europe and in such conditions, it could find itself in a crisis mode out of the sudden.

Italy also confirmed a deficit target of 2.4 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2019 and cut its target to 2.1 percent in 2020 and 1.8 percent in 2021.

The populist government also set a debt-to-GDP target of 130 percent for 2018, 130 percent in 2019, 128.1 percent in 2020 and 126/7 percent in 2021.