Italy was requested by the European Commission to submit a new or revised draft budget plan (DBP) by November 13, tomorrow, after rejection. Ahead of that, it’s reported that Economy Minister Giovanni Tria is considering to tweak the plan by lowering 2019 growth forecast.
According to Italian coalition government’s own budget, 2019 GDP growth is projected at 1.5%. And, the budget deficit target is 2.4% of GDP. Tria has pledged last week to maintain the “pillars” of the budget. And clearly, the pillars don’t necessarily include growth forecast.
La Repubblica reported that Tria could cut the growth estimate to 1.0%. On the other hand, Il Messaggero said he could cut the forecast to 1.2%. According to European Commission’s own projections, Italy’s growth would be at 1.2% in 2019. Also Tria might also look at automatic mechanism to cut public expenses to keep deficit under the 2.4% cap.
