Italy GDP +0.6% 2019, +0.9 2020 says IMF

(ANSA) - New York, February 6 - The International Monetary Fund said Wednesday that Italian GDP will rise 0.6% this year and 0.9% next.
    There is a risk that the government's new basic income for the poor and job seekers will be a "disincentive" to working, the IMF said.
    The government's quota 100 pension reform risks hiking pension costs, the IMF said.
    Italian government policy risks leaving Italy "vulnerable to a fresh loss of market confidence even in the absence of further shocks," the IMF said.
    Italy poses a possible significant global risk in the event of acute stress which "could push global markets into unexplored territory", the IMF said.
    The IMF called for reforms to boost potential Italian growth.
    Emigration from Italy is close to a 50-year high, the IMF said. Deputy Premier Luigi Di Maio said the IMF had "starved peoples for decades" and did not have the credibility to criticise the government's new basic income for the poor and job seekers.
    "We have already given the lie to many rumours in just seven months (of government) and in the course of 2019 we will give the lie to the IMF too," said Di Maio, who is also labour and industry minister.
    "Those who have starved people for decades, backing austerity policies that have not reduced debt but have only accentuated gaps, do not have the credibility to criticise a measure like the basic income, a expansive economic policy of social equity and an incentive to work".