Italy's economic situation
is "slowly improving but it is important to put public debt on a
downward track," European Commission Vice President Valdis
Dombrovskis said in an exclusive interview with ANSA Tuesday.
He said the economy would grow this year and next but growth
"remains below the EU average".
Debt "remains a source of vulnerability" and deprives the
country of 3.8% of GDP in 2017 alone for debt servicing, he
said.
Dombrovskis said that "Italian debt is a great cost for the
economy".
He said "at the moment we are living in an environment
of low interest rates, but if there is a change in monetary
policy, if inflation rises again, this adds to the costs and may
be a source of instability.
"Therefore it is important to use this economic situation to
start bringing the debt down".
Dombrovskis went on to say that low growth and scant
productivity are a "structural problem" that Italy is tackling
with reforms.
And yet, he said, "if we compare the experiences of other
countries strongly hit by the crisis like Ireland, Spain, the
Baltic States, who are engaged in an ambitious reform agenda
too, at the moment they are among the economies growing most
quickly", unlike Italy which is below the EU average.
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