The draft 2024 budget law is lacking
stimulus for the investments that are needed for economic
growth, Confindustria President Carlo Bonomi said on Monday.
"In my opinion what is lacking (in the budget bill, ed.) is
stimulus for investments," Bonomi told the assembly of the
Italian Federation of the chemical industry Federchimica in
Milan.
"The economy has to grow and for that to happen there need to be
investments," he continued.
"This part is missing, and we have been told that it has been
postponed until the objectives of the national recovery and
resilience plan (NRRP) have been revised," added Bonomi.
"We hope it comes before the end of the year because investments
are essential for latching onto the (digital and ecological)
transitions," he said.
Bonomi also described the EU-funded NRRP as a "great
opportunity" because one of the problems is the slump in
investments and "for a country that wants to grow, this is cause
for alarm".
"We cannot afford to fail," he continued, insisting that Italy
needs to land the funding that is aimed at boosting growth.
"Two roundabouts and a kilometer of cycle path do not increase
GDP," said Bonomi.
The majority has been putting the final touches to the budget
bill approved by the cabinet on October 16 before sending it to
parliament, reportedly on Monday.
On Saturday Premier Giorgia Meloni said the overall figures for
the package of around 28 billion euros had not changed, even
though some aspects had been modified.
The 2024 budget maintains a six-percentage-point reduction in
the labour-tax wedge for those earning up to 35,000 euro and the
seven-percentage-point reduction for those earning up to 25,000
euro.
The government has said this is worth an average increase of
around 100 euros a month in the pay packets of 14 million
workers.
The package also merges the two lower bands of Italian
income-tax Irpef, bringing the number of bands down from four to
three.
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