Economy Minister Giovanni Tria
said Wednesday that the government was standing by the forecasts
in its economic blueprint, the DEF.
The Bank of Italy has criticised the DEF and parliamentary
budget office UPB on Tuesday failed to approve it, saying the
growth forecasts were too optimistic.
"Following the parliamentary budget office's failure to
validate the economic planning outlook, the government considers
it opportune to confirm the forecasts in the DEF update
statement," Tria told a parliamentary hearing.
The executive plans to let Italy's deficit rise to 2.4% of
GDP next year, saying an expansive budget will help GDP to
increase by 1.5% in 2019, 1.6% in 2020 and 1.4% in 2021, with
the help of new public investments and welfare spending.
The European Commission has expressed concern that the budget
plan will lead Italy to breach EU rules.
Tria said the difference between the government's growth
forecasts and more downbeat ones by "international analysts and
institutions" was because the latter were working with "partial
and obsolete information" that does not account for the
government's plans.
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