Govt approves DEF, blames Superbonus for debt rise

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 9 - Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti blamed the "weight" of the Superbonus green building renovation benefit scheme for the rise in the debt-to-GDP ratio the government sees coming over the next three years in the DEF economic blueprint cabinet approved on Tuesday "The rising public debt forecast by the DEF is heavily conditioned by the impact of the Superbonus in the coming years, but after 2026 it will start to fall," he said after the DEF set debt at 137.8% of GDP this year, rising to 138.9% in 2025 and 139.8% in 2026.
    National statistics agency Istat put Italy's debt-to-GDP ratio at 137.3% in 2023.
    The Superbonus programme, introduced by a previous government headed by 5-Star Movement (M5S) leader Giuseppe Conte in 2020, covered 110% of the cost of certain energy-efficiency building renovations.
    The scheme has been significantly curtailed by the current government but the cost keeps growing.
    As of 31 March, the total burden borne by the state for the Superbonus exceeds 122 billion euro, according to the latest monthly data.
    The DEF sees Italy's GDP growing by 1% this year, down from 1.2% in the NADEF update document it adopted in the second half of 2023.
    Italy's budget deficit will come in at 4.3% of GDP this year and will fall to 3.7% in 2025, to 3% in 2026 and to 2.2% in 2027, according to the DEF.
    Italy had a deficit of 7.2% of GDP last year, according to initial estimates by statistics agency Istat.
    Giorgetti has said that an EU infringement procedure over Italy's 2023 deficit is inevitable because of this, but has nevertheless effectively ruled out the possibility of the government passing a corrective budget.
    On Tuesday Giorgetti added that the government wanted to prolong a cut in the labour tax wedge to next year.
    "We absolutely intend to replicate the decontribution that expires in 2024 in 2025," he said.
    "This is the real goal we set ourselves when we go to define the structural fiscal programme." (ANSA).