Latest news with #DocumentofPublicFinance
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Italy not planning to use EU budget leeway for defence spending boost
ROME (Reuters) - Italy has no intention for now of using budget leeway allowed by the European Union to boost its defence spending, its economy minister said on Saturday, despite U.S. pressure to increase military expenditure. The European Commission has proposed allowing member states to raise defence spending by 1.5% of gross domestic product each year for four years, without any disciplinary steps that normally kick in once a government deficit climbs above 3% of GDP. Highly indebted Italy aims to honour its pledge to boost its domestic defence budget to at least 2% of GDP from around 1.5% in 2024 without that leeway, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti told reporters at the end of a meeting of EU finance ministers in Warsaw. "The goal is not to activate the national escape clause," he said. The Commission asked member states to decide by April whether to apply for the allowed fiscal room, but Giorgetti said it would be better to wait for the end of an upcoming NATO summit in June before taking any decisions. "Some time is needed to have coordinate decisions, as ideas on the table are quite diverse in this regard," he added. On Wednesday, Italy committed to keeping its budget deficit in check and bring it back below the 3% ceiling in 2026, even as it slashed its economic growth forecasts for this year and next, amid uncertainty due to U.S. trade tariffs. However, Rome said the public debt - the second highest in the euro zone after Greece's - was expected to climb from 135.3% of GDP last year to 137.6% in 2026, before edging down marginally the following year. To achieve a quick increase in security spending, Italy is considering including money spent for both military and civilian technologies and pensions paid to retired soldiers in its domestic defence budget, the Treasury said in its Document of Public Finance published this week.
Reuters
12-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Italy not planning to use EU budget leeway for defence spending boost
ROME, April 12 (Reuters) - Italy has no intention for now of using budget leeway allowed by the European Union to boost its defence spending, its economy minister said on Saturday, despite U.S. pressure to increase military expenditure. The European Commission has proposed allowing member states to raise defence spending by 1.5% of gross domestic product each year for four years, without any disciplinary steps that normally kick in once a government deficit climbs above 3% of GDP. Highly indebted Italy aims to honour its pledge to boost its domestic defence budget to at least 2% of GDP from around 1.5% in 2024 without that leeway, Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti told reporters at the end of a meeting of EU finance ministers in Warsaw. "The goal is not to activate the national escape clause," he said. The Commission asked member states to decide by April whether to apply for the allowed fiscal room, but Giorgetti said it would be better to wait for the end of an upcoming NATO summit in June before taking any decisions. "Some time is needed to have coordinate decisions, as ideas on the table are quite diverse in this regard," he added. On Wednesday, Italy committed to keeping its budget deficit in check and bring it back below the 3% ceiling in 2026, even as it slashed its economic growth forecasts for this year and next, amid uncertainty due to U.S. trade tariffs. However, Rome said the public debt - the second highest in the euro zone after Greece's - was expected to climb from 135.3% of GDP last year to 137.6% in 2026, before edging down marginally the following year. To achieve a quick increase in security spending, Italy is considering including money spent for both military and civilian technologies and pensions paid to retired soldiers in its domestic defence budget, the Treasury said in its Document of Public Finance published this week.
Reuters
11-04-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Italy plans asset sales worth 0.8% of GDP through 2027, Treasury says
ROME, April 11 (Reuters) - Italy plans to sell assets valued at close to 1% of gross domestic product through 2027 to keep its fragile state finances in check, the Treasury said in its multi-year budget framework. Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said this week the government would press ahead with a previously announced plan to sell state assets worth some 20 billion euros ($23 billion), though he added that current market turmoil due to U.S. tariff policy made it necessary to move with caution. The Treasury's Document of Public Finance, published late on Thursday, indicated new debt projections factored in asset sales worth 0.1% of GDP this year, 0.2% in 2026 and 0.5% in 2027. Italy's public debt, proportionally the second-highest in the euro zone after Greece's, is seen at 136.6% of GDP this year from 135.3% in 2024, according to the government's latest projections. The debt is expected to rise to 137.6% in 2026 before edging down to 137.4% in 2027. Since she took office in late 2022, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has put more than 4 billion euros into state coffers by selling stakes in bailed-out bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena ( opens new tab and energy group Eni ( opens new tab. Among long-mooted plans to divest state assets, Italy has adopted steps to sell up to 14% of financial conglomerate Poste Italiane a transaction that could be worth almost 3 billion euros. The document also mentions expected property disposals amounting to more than 800 million euros each year between 2025 and 2027. ($1 = 0.8801 euros)
