The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
said Wednesday that Italy needs to do more to bring down its
budget deficit and halt the rise in its national debt.
"The likelihood that Italy will achieve the primary deficit
needed to stabilize its debt level (estimated at more than 0.5
percent of GDP for 2024) is less than
50 percent, indicating the need for further fiscal efforts in
the coming two years," the IMF said in its latest Fiscal
Monitor.
It said Italy was among the countries driving an increase in
debt levels worldwide.
"Global debt is projected to increase to close to 100 percent of
GDP by 2029," the report said.
"The increase will be led by some large economies (for example,
China, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the United States), which
critically need to take policy action to address fundamental
imbalances between spending and revenues".
It added that in 2023 "several economies (Italy, Japan)
announced new fiscal stimulus plans, including costly changes to
tax policy, social security
contribution cuts, and new spending initiatives, often based on
optimistic financing assumptions".
The IMF said it forecasts Italy's debt-to-GDP ratio will go from
139.2% this year to 140.4% in 2025, 142.6% in 2026 and 143.1% in
2027.
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