Italian debt reduction must be
credible, gradual and steady, Bank of Italy Governor Fabio
Panetta said Monday.
The reduction of Italy's "high public debt" must be implemented
with "the Einaudian principle of striving, with the necessary
flexibility, for a lasting re-balancing of public accounts,"
Panetta said at the conference 'The teachings of Luigi Einaudi'.
"This requires both short- and medium-term expenditure planning
and measures capable of ensuring a gradual but steady debt
reduction over time," he said.
A credible reduction path "will increase the room for manoeuvre
for fiscal interventions of a social nature and to cope with
future unforeseen situations".
Einaudi (1874 -1961) was a former Bank of Italy governor and
economist who served as Italy's first president from 1948 to
1955.
Italy's public debt is currently just over 137% of GDP and the
government aims to bring it down to 135% in two years' time.
It is the second biggest in the eurozone after Greece's.
It ballooned to almost 160% at the height of the COVID pandemic
in mid 2021 but has since fallen.
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