Italy counts on 5.2 billion euro budget improvement to appease EU – paper

Italy counts on 5.2 billion euro budget improvement to appease EU – paper

The Italian government proposes to use 5.2 billion euros (£4.6 billion) in expected improvements in its 2019 budget position to avoid European Union disciplinary action for excessive debt, financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore said on Thursday.

The newspaper said the improvements consisted of expected savings on forecast expenditure of about 2 billion euros and higher-than-expected revenues of 3.2 billion euros, saying Rome would offer to use these to reduce the forecast deficit.

“The package decided yesterday, in summary, is worth 5.2 billion euros in 2019 and would bring the deficit for this year to 2.2% (of gross domestic product)…,” Il Sole said.