he global crisis entered into a new and dramatic phase in 2011, involving strong tensions in European sovereign debt markets. Fears of contagion spread through Southern Europe, also affecting Italy in mid-summer.
In this paper, we aim at presenting the wide-ranging strategy to restore confidence, strengthen fiscal sustainability and foster growth that was adopted by the Italian emergency cabinet in charge since November 2011.1
Some background
Italy is a well-known example of a country that has had weak budgetary discipline in the past, which led it to accumulate one of the highest public debts in the world. Since the introduction of the euro and its fiscal rules, Italy has been engaged in a rigorous process in which the multilateral surveillance has helped to build a more disciplined environment for public policies.
Over the past decade, Italy's real GDP growth per capita has been among the weakest in the OECD, which reflects very low underlying productivity growth. The recommendations of international organisations, including the OECD, have long argued for better regulation, more competition and more flexibility in the labour market. Italy has made progress in some of these areas since the late 1990s, although in the same period its relative economic performance deteriorated. Membership in the Economic and Monetary Union and rapid globalisation increased the costs of inflexibility, the burden of which has materialised over time. Hence, the unprecedented global crisis that erupted in the US in 2008 hit slow-growing Italy particulary hard, bringing about a huge toll in terms of GDP (-5.5 per cent in 2009) and unemployment (8.4 per cent in both 2010 and 2011, 10.8 per cent in 2012, and 11.4 per cent in 2013). As opposed to most countries, the cabinet then in charge (which had been in power since 2008) avoided countercyclical actions to address the crisis, while public finances remained largely under control, in part because no banking sector rescue package was needed. It launched some interventions in the area of structural reforms (for example, simplification of administrative procedures and an overhaul of the apprenticeship system), although the resistance of vested interests succeeded in blocking a consistent strategic design. Finally, in summer 2011, as a consequence of financial market turbulence and possible contagion from other EU countries, bond market sentiment deteriorated, as fears on Italy's fiscal sustainability emerged. In the effort to address the mounting tensions, the cabinet adopted two consolidation packages, in July and in August. However, due to persistent tensions, the centre-right government resigned in mid-November 2011 and an emergency cabinet, the Monti government, took over.
Immediately after taking office, the new government adopted an additional emergency intervention in December 2011, the "Salva Italia" (Save Italy) law. It mainly consisted of fiscal consolidation measures, including a new round of pension reforms, but also included some growth-enhancing actions, mostly focused on the business environment and liberalisation. Building on these first structural reform measures, the "Cresci Italia" (Grow Italy) and "Semplifica Italia" (Simplify Italy) laws were adopted in March 2012 to foster competition in product and service markets and to further improve the business environment, mainly by reducing the administrative burden on firms and citizens. Other actions undertaken include two "development" decrees, a spending review, labour market reform and an anti-corruption law. At the same time, Parliament approved the constitutional reform of public finances submitted by the previous government in September 2011.
Table 1 (back to the text)
Key public finance projections
% of GDP
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Net borrowing
requirement (NBR)
-4.6
-3.9
-2.6
-1.8
-1.5
-1.3
Cyclically adjusted NBR, net of one-off
-3.6
-3.6
-0.9
0
-0.2
-0.4
Change in cyclically adjusted NBR, net of one-off
-0.4
0
-2.8
-0.9
0.3
0.2
Primary balance
0.1
1.0
2.9
3.8
4.4
4.8
Public debt
119.2
120.7
126.4
126.1
123.1
119.9
Public debt (net of support to EU)
118.9
119.9
123.3
122.3
119.3
116.1
Source: Ministry of Economy and Finance: Update of 2012 Economic and Financial Document, 20 September 2012.
Public finance: how to address a legacy of high debt
After decades of efforts to control persistent Italian deficits, the September 2012 Update of Italy's Economic and Financial Document (the government's planning document) envisages that the general government structural budget will be balanced by 2013, confirming the commitments undertaken by the country at the EU level. Moreover, by 2012 the general government net borrowing is expected to return below the three per cent threshold, leading to the closure of the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) opened against Italy - and most EU member states - in 2009, when the nominal deficit hit the unsustainable level of 5.5 per cent due to the dramatic slowdown of the Italian economy.
The attainment of a balanced budget by 2013 would put the Italian debt, the fourth largest in the world, on a declining path. This result would confirm the success in addressing the legacy of weak discipline inherited from the past and would offer a promising outlook on the Italian budgetary position.
Figure 1 (back to the text)
Net borrowing requirement (NBR) vs. cyclically adjusted (net of one-off) NBR
64935.png
Source: Ministry of Economy and Finance: Update of 2012 Economic and Financial Document, 20 September 2012.
The consolidation packages
Current public finance figures give evidence of the country's hard work. The effective consolidation effort started in 2006 - kicked off with an EDP procedure launched the previous year - and it was suspended only in 2008 and 2009, the years when the world crisis was at its deepest. In those years, when other countries adopted countercyclical measures to cope with the crisis, significantly worsening their budget positions, the Italian budget strategy focused on limiting discretionary measures to a minimum and allotting a significant share of public resources to automatic stabilisers. Indeed, in 2008-2009, the government adopted mainly temporary budget-neutral measures.
Net borrowing figures for the following years reflect the dramatic circumstances characterising Europe in the unprecedented spiral of the sovereign debt, euro, banking system and real economy crises. Between 2011 and 2012, the structural budget deficit was reduced from -3.6 to -0.9 per cent, driven by emergency actions taken in 2011, first by the centre-right government and then by a large majority government supported by most parties. These huge efforts aimed at increasing confidence in the sustainability of Italian debt and at avoiding contagion to a country that was considered "too big to fail". Even though the already deteriorated economic scenario worsened further in 2012 (a 2.4 per cent drop in GDP is projected) amid high unemployment rates and an increase in poverty, the country has reacted in a relatively calm way, and disorders have been very limited. Indeed, while the social situation remains serious, the emergency packages seem to have been accepted.
The cumulative reduction in the structural budget balance between 2006 and 2013 amounts to 5.5 percentage points. The primary surplus is expected to reach almost four per cent in 2013 and to exceed this level in the following years. Against baselines, the financial effects of the measures adopted are even more impressive. According to official estimates, in a single year, 2013, stabilisation packages adopted in previous years will reduce net borrowing by more than €90bn (5.5 percentage points of GDP), limiting government spending and increasing revenues.
Looking at the composition of consolidation measures, the main contribution comes from the revenue side (two-thirds of the correction package in 2013). The expected effects of stabilisation packages would increase the revenue-to-GDP ratio by 2.2 percentage points in 2012 and by 0.5 percentage points in 2013. Consequently, the revenue-to-GDP ratio in 2013 is expected to reach 49.4 per cent, compared with an average ratio of 46.4 per cent in 2006-2011 (see Figure 2). On the expenditure side, despite the large corrections (€33bn estimated for 2011) on primary spending, the ratio of primary expenditure-to-GDP in 2012 is 46 per cent, showing a relevant decline only at the end of the forecast period (43.9 per cent) due to the rigidity of primary expenditure and the loose financial effects of spending rationalisations.
Figure 2 (back to the text)
Revenue-to-GDP vs. expenditure-to-GDP
62218.png
Source: Istat, Ministry of Economy and Finance: Update of 2012 Economic and Financial Document, 20 September 2012.
More specifically, on the revenue side, the consolidation strategy has called for both an increase in total revenues and the reduction of high distortions enshrined in the current tax system. To this aim, there has been a general shift in taxation from both labour and income to consumption and real estate property, as well as an aggressive stance in fighting tax evasion.
In particular, the packages envisage an ordinary VAT increase of one percentage point, an increased tax on real estate and a reform of taxation on financial instruments (including the introduction of the Tobin tax on financial asset transactions), as well as higher taxes on energy companies and financial operators and more revenues from gaming and excise duties. On the other hand, the packages provide for a new tax framework for businesses (Aid for Economic Growth) that reduces the tax burden on capital investment and for a reduction in the taxation of labour, which is further reduced for female employees, for workers under 35 years old and for firms located in "disadvantaged" regions.
The fight against tax evasion and avoidance has been reinforced through the strengthening of controls and pr
he global crisis entered into a new and dramatic phase in 2011, involving strong tensions in European sovereign debt markets. Fears of contagion spread through Southern Europe, also affecting Italy in mid-summer.
In this paper, we aim at presenting the wide-ranging strategy to restore confidence, strengthen fiscal sustainability and foster growth that was adopted by the Italian emergency cabinet in charge since November 2011.1
Some background
Italy is a well-known example of a country that has had weak budgetary discipline in the past, which led it to accumulate one of the highest public debts in the world. Since the introduction of the euro and its fiscal rules, Italy has been engaged in a rigorous process in which the multilateral surveillance has helped to build a more disciplined environment for public policies.
Over the past decade, Italy's real GDP growth per capita has been among the weakest in the OECD, which reflects very low underlying productivity growth. The recommendations of international organisations, including the OECD, have long argued for better regulation, more competition and more flexibility in the labour market. Italy has made progress in some of these areas since the late 1990s, although in the same period its relative economic performance deteriorated. Membership in the Economic and Monetary Union and rapid globalisation increased the costs of inflexibility, the burden of which has materialised over time. Hence, the unprecedented global crisis that erupted in the US in 2008 hit slow-growing Italy particulary hard, bringing about a huge toll in terms of GDP (-5.5 per cent in 2009) and unemployment (8.4 per cent in both 2010 and 2011, 10.8 per cent in 2012, and 11.4 per cent in 2013). As opposed to most countries, the cabinet then in charge (which had been in power since 2008) avoided countercyclical actions to address the crisis, while public finances remained largely under control, in part because no banking sector rescue package was needed. It launched some interventions in the area of structural reforms (for example, simplification of administrative procedures and an overhaul of the apprenticeship system), although the resistance of vested interests succeeded in blocking a consistent strategic design. Finally, in summer 2011, as a consequence of financial market turbulence and possible contagion from other EU countries, bond market sentiment deteriorated, as fears on Italy's fiscal sustainability emerged. In the effort to address the mounting tensions, the cabinet adopted two consolidation packages, in July and in August. However, due to persistent tensions, the centre-right government resigned in mid-November 2011 and an emergency cabinet, the Monti government, took over.
Immediately after taking office, the new government adopted an additional emergency intervention in December 2011, the "Salva Italia" (Save Italy) law. It mainly consisted of fiscal consolidation measures, including a new round of pension reforms, but also included some growth-enhancing actions, mostly focused on the business environment and liberalisation. Building on these first structural reform measures, the "Cresci Italia" (Grow Italy) and "Semplifica Italia" (Simplify Italy) laws were adopted in March 2012 to foster competition in product and service markets and to further improve the business environment, mainly by reducing the administrative burden on firms and citizens. Other actions undertaken include two "development" decrees, a spending review, labour market reform and an anti-corruption law. At the same time, Parliament approved the constitutional reform of public finances submitted by the previous government in September 2011.
Table 1 (back to the text)
Key public finance projections
% of GDP
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Net borrowing
requirement (NBR)
-4.6
-3.9
-2.6
-1.8
-1.5
-1.3
Cyclically adjusted NBR, net of one-off
-3.6
-3.6
-0.9
0
-0.2
-0.4
Change in cyclically adjusted NBR, net of one-off
-0.4
0
-2.8
-0.9
0.3
0.2
Primary balance
0.1
1.0
2.9
3.8
4.4
4.8
Public debt
119.2
120.7
126.4
126.1
123.1
119.9
Public debt (net of support to EU)
118.9
119.9
123.3
122.3
119.3
116.1
Source: Ministry of Economy and Finance: Update of 2012 Economic and Financial Document, 20 September 2012.
Public finance: how to address a legacy of high debt
After decades of efforts to control persistent Italian deficits, the September 2012 Update of Italy's Economic and Financial Document (the government's planning document) envisages that the general government structural budget will be balanced by 2013, confirming the commitments undertaken by the country at the EU level. Moreover, by 2012 the general government net borrowing is expected to return below the three per cent threshold, leading to the closure of the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) opened against Italy - and most EU member states - in 2009, when the nominal deficit hit the unsustainable level of 5.5 per cent due to the dramatic slowdown of the Italian economy.
The attainment of a balanced budget by 2013 would put the Italian debt, the fourth largest in the world, on a declining path. This result would confirm the success in addressing the legacy of weak discipline inherited from the past and would offer a promising outlook on the Italian budgetary position.
Figure 1 (back to the text)
Net borrowing requirement (NBR) vs. cyclically adjusted (net of one-off) NBR
64935.png
Source: Ministry of Economy and Finance: Update of 2012 Economic and Financial Document, 20 September 2012.
The consolidation packages
Current public finance figures give evidence of the country's hard work. The effective consolidation effort started in 2006 - kicked off with an EDP procedure launched the previous year - and it was suspended only in 2008 and 2009, the years when the world crisis was at its deepest. In those years, when other countries adopted countercyclical measures to cope with the crisis, significantly worsening their budget positions, the Italian budget strategy focused on limiting discretionary measures to a minimum and allotting a significant share of public resources to automatic stabilisers. Indeed, in 2008-2009, the government adopted mainly temporary budget-neutral measures.
Net borrowing figures for the following years reflect the dramatic circumstances characterising Europe in the unprecedented spiral of the sovereign debt, euro, banking system and real economy crises. Between 2011 and 2012, the structural budget deficit was reduced from -3.6 to -0.9 per cent, driven by emergency actions taken in 2011, first by the centre-right government and then by a large majority government supported by most parties. These huge efforts aimed at increasing confidence in the sustainability of Italian debt and at avoiding contagion to a country that was considered "too big to fail". Even though the already deteriorated economic scenario worsened further in 2012 (a 2.4 per cent drop in GDP is projected) amid high unemployment rates and an increase in poverty, the country has reacted in a relatively calm way, and disorders have been very limited. Indeed, while the social situation remains serious, the emergency packages seem to have been accepted.
The cumulative reduction in the structural budget balance between 2006 and 2013 amounts to 5.5 percentage points. The primary surplus is expected to reach almost four per cent in 2013 and to exceed this level in the following years. Against baselines, the financial effects of the measures adopted are even more impressive. According to official estimates, in a single year, 2013, stabilisation packages adopted in previous years will reduce net borrowing by more than €90bn (5.5 percentage points of GDP), limiting government spending and increasing revenues.
Looking at the composition of consolidation measures, the main contribution comes from the revenue side (two-thirds of the correction package in 2013). The expected effects of stabilisation packages would increase the revenue-to-GDP ratio by 2.2 percentage points in 2012 and by 0.5 percentage points in 2013. Consequently, the revenue-to-GDP ratio in 2013 is expected to reach 49.4 per cent, compared with an average ratio of 46.4 per cent in 2006-2011 (see Figure 2). On the expenditure side, despite the large corrections (€33bn estimated for 2011) on primary spending, the ratio of primary expenditure-to-GDP in 2012 is 46 per cent, showing a relevant decline only at the end of the forecast period (43.9 per cent) due to the rigidity of primary expenditure and the loose financial effects of spending rationalisations.
Figure 2 (back to the text)
Revenue-to-GDP vs. expenditure-to-GDP
62218.png
Source: Istat, Ministry of Economy and Finance: Update of 2012 Economic and Financial Document, 20 September 2012.
More specifically, on the revenue side, the consolidation strategy has called for both an increase in total revenues and the reduction of high distortions enshrined in the current tax system. To this aim, there has been a general shift in taxation from both labour and income to consumption and real estate property, as well as an aggressive stance in fighting tax evasion.
In particular, the packages envisage an ordinary VAT increase of one percentage point, an increased tax on real estate and a reform of taxation on financial instruments (including the introduction of the Tobin tax on financial asset transactions), as well as higher taxes on energy companies and financial operators and more revenues from gaming and excise duties. On the other hand, the packages provide for a new tax framework for businesses (Aid for Economic Growth) that reduces the tax burden on capital investment and for a reduction in the taxation of labour, which is further reduced for female employees, for workers under 35 years old and for firms located in "disadvantaged" regions.
The fight against tax evasion and avoidance has been reinforced through the strengthening of controls and pr
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