Although on the PNR "improvements are possible", nevertheless "there is no time to lose". Thus the governor of Bankitalia Ignazio Visco in the Final Considerations in that recalls that the Plan "represents a rare, and overall valid, attempt to define a strategic vision for the country". It is therefore "crucial to implement the ambitious reform programme, long overdue, contained therein". According to Visco, for any changes "a continuous dialogue with the Commission is absolutely necessary as well as useful and constructive".
"For 2023, the forecasts available today converge on an increase in output of around 1%". According to Visco "in dealing with the consequences of the war in Ukraine, as well as in the exit from the pandemic, the Italian economy has shown a comforting capacity for reaction". The governor observes in our economy "encouraging signs that must be strengthened, overcoming those delays that still prevent our economy from unfolding its full potential".
THE FIGHT AGAINST INFLATION
"The return of inflation to levels in line with the objective will be faster and less costly if everyone - companies, workers and governments - contribute to this end, strengthening the effectiveness of the indispensable if balanced monetary normalization". For monetary policy, according to Visco, "the stance must continue to be defined in such a way as to ensure a gradual but not slow return of inflation towards the objective". It is therefore important to "keep the bar straight for the monetary response, but with the necessary gradualness for the uncertainty that has not yet dissipated".
PRECARIOUS YOUNG PEOPLE
"In many cases, fixed-term work is associated with very prolonged precarious conditions; The share of young people who after five years are in fixed-term employment remains close to 20%". This is the figure reported by the governor of the Bank of Italy who adds "too many, not only among young people do not have regular employment or, despite having it, adequate contractual conditions are not recognized". Visco also reports a growth, now at a share of 30%, of workers with particularly low annual wages, below 60% of the average of 11,600 euros per year.
"Problems
such as the reduction of public debt or the adoption of lifestyles consistent with the protection of the environment require that society understands them and makes them its own, not because Europe asks us but because they shield us from risks and open up opportunities". Visco at the end of his last final considerations after quoting our Supreme Poet who interpreting Aristotle affirmed how "the Philosopher says that man is naturally an animal companion" to achieve the happy life "only one satism can not". We are not only social animals, not only can we imagine the future but we can do it "collectively" as the Israeli historian and writer Yuval Noah Harari, whom Visco mentions immediately afterwards, argues. "It is up to the youngest, less conditioned by the past, to imagine that world, to identify its opportunities". "They will have to be heard" is the appeal of the Governor in closing his report after recalling that he is preparing this year to leave the 'special' institution that 'I have served in different roles for fifty years'.
ANSA Agency
Draghi in the front row at Visco's Final Considerations - Economy
The former premier and former governor of the Bank of Italy not far from Monti, Letta, Dini, Franco and Patuelli (ANSA)
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As in other major countries, the introduction of a minimum wage, defined with the necessary balance, can respond to not inconsiderable demands of social justice." Visco specifies that "too many, not only among young people, do not have regular employment or, despite having one, do not see adequate contractual conditions recognized".
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The pandemic hit the country when it had not yet fully recovered from the damage inflicted by a double crisis, when the slow and fragmented introduction of the necessary reforms was still struggling to untie the knots that hinder our development. But Italy has overcome this third very serious crisis, as well as the energy shock following the Russian aggression of Ukraine, better than we expected". Visco adds that this "now requires us to strengthen our international positioning".
"The growth capacity of our economy is burdened by a complex tax system, on which we have often intervened without an organic design". "A recomposition of the levy that reduces the burden of taxation on producer factors can stimulate employment and investment." Visco underlines that "no intervention can realistically ignore the constraints imposed by our high public nor the principles of progressivity and ability to pay enshrined in the Constitution".
"Finally, it is impossible not to underline the need to complete the banking union, through a revision of the current crisis management discipline as well as the establishment of a single deposit guarantee scheme". Visco underlines how "the recent phenomena of instability observed outside the European Union clearly show the importance of achieving these objectives". "As soon as its reform is fully operational, the ESM can play an important role by providing a financial safety net to the Single Resolution Fund."
"Reducing the size of
public debt is a priority of economic policy, regardless of European rules." This is reiterated by the governor of the Bank of Italy, underlining that regardless of the causes that have brought it to current levels, it is now a priority to give continuity to the consolidation process started in the last two years". Visco therefore underlines that "in the coming years any increase in expenditure or reduction in revenue, even in the context of the reforms already announced such as that of taxation or differentiated autonomy, cannot disregard the identification of adequate and certain structural coverage". It also recalls that "maintaining prudent management of public finances is an important sign of credibility; contributes to compressing the yields of our government bonds, bringing them closer to those of other large euro area countries".
NO FLIGHT OF DEPOSITS
There is no flight of deposits from Italian banks, a phenomenon that also thanks to digital innovations has shaken American credit institutions after the SVB case but a "physiological decline" in liquidity accumulated during the pandemic and a shift of savers towards "more profitable" financial products. According to Visco "since July last year, when it had peaked at almost 1,620 billion" deposits have fallen by 6%. "The turbulence reminds us how quickly investor confidence can deteriorate," he added.