Premier Matteo Renzi's government
has admitted that 2014 will be a year of recession and said it
will not be able to balance the budget in structural terms until
2017, one year later than its previous target.
The executive stressed, however, that it will not breach
the European Union's deficit-to-GDP-ratio threshold of 3%
despite the difficult economic climate in a statement revising
the forecasts presented earlier this year in its three-year
economic blueprint, the Economic and Financial Document (DEF).
In the first half of this year, Italy unexpected slipped
into its third recession since the start of the global economic
crisis in 2008.
Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Italy's gross
domestic product would be down 0.3% this year, after the
government forecast growth of 0.8% in April.
The statement added that the economy should recover in 2015
and grow by 0.6%.
The statement said the deficit-to-GDP ratio will be bang on
the 3% threshold, compared to its April forecast of 2.6%, and
will then edge down to 2.9% in 2015.
Italy's debt-to-GDP ratio will be 131.6% this year and will
grow to 133.4% next year, it said.
The government expects Italy's unemployment rate to be
12.6% in 2014 and 12.5% in 2015.
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