Italian Minister for Relations with Parliament, Luca Ciriani, stated that the country would not present its new budget plan until next month, missing the European Union’s September deadline.
Parliament wanted the Treasury to take into account upcoming revisions to economic growth data for 1995-2023, the minister said. National statistics bureau ISTAT this week pre-announced an upward revision to GDP of 0.9-1.2% in 2021 and announced it would submit a full report on 23 September.
We don’t know what the impact of the revisions will be, but they could affect the budget plan figures. The government will present the plan in the first week of October so that lawmakers can have a look at the impact of the data coming from ISTAT.
The Cabinet would also hold a preliminary discussion on the plan’s targets and GDP forecasts on 17 September, ahead of the ISTAT review, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti revealed.
The EU imposed the so-called excessive deficit procedure on Italy this year after the budget deficit for 2023 was 7.4 per cent of GDP, the highest in the eurozone and well above the bloc’s 3 per cent ceiling.
In its budget plan, which aims to reduce the budget deficit in line with EU regulations, the Treasury is due to reiterate a commitment to reduce the deficit below 3 per cent in 2026, according to statements last month. The new fiscal rules require slow but steady deficit and debt reduction from 2025 over four to seven years, depending on commitments to reforms and strategic investments.
However, former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte denounced the incumbent PM Giorgia Meloni’s handling of the state budget.
For 2 years now, to justify the cuts and the lack of impact measures for families and businesses, Meloni has been hiding behind the lie of budget holes that do not exist. (…) This is certainly not a dispute between a former and the current Prime Minister, who lacks intellectual honesty and seeks to discredit the flattering results obtained by a previous Executive.
