The International Monetary Fund is revising its growth estimates for Italy for 2021 upwards, when GDP is expected to rise by 5.8%, or 0.9 percentage points more than the July forecasts.
For 2022, growth is unchanged at 4.2%.
With + 5.8% this year, Italy is growing more than the euro area average, which marks a + 5% in 2021.
By 2026, the Italian GDP is estimated at + 1.0%.
The Italian public debt will drop to 154.8% of GDP in 2021 compared to 155.8% in 2020. And it will continue to drop to 150.4% in 2022 as well, reaching 146.5% in 2026, according to the IMF, estimating a deficit increasing from 9.5% in 2020 to 10.2% this year and 4.7% in 2022 (to 2.4% in 2026).
The Fund's data for 2021 is better than the July estimates, when Washington experts predicted a debt of 157.8% and a deficit of 11.1%.
In the World Economic Outlook in April, the IMF had estimated a debt of 157.1% in 2021 and 155.5% in 2022. The deficit was expected to be 8.8% this year and 5.5% in 2022.
The unemployment rate in Italy will stand at 10.3% in 2021, up from + 9.3% in 2020, and 11.6% in 2022. The IMF confirms the April forecasts.
Double-digit unemployment also in Spain and Greece.
For Spain, the Fund estimates a rate of 15.4% this year and 14.8% for 2022, while for Greece the estimates are for unemployment at 15.8% in 2021 and 14.6% in 2022. The average for Euroland is 8.0% unemployment this year and 8.1% next.