ROME (Reuters) – Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti raised doubts on Friday over whether Rome’s 2023 deficit target could be met due to costly fiscal incentives for green home improvements.
The government in September hiked its 2023 deficit target to 5.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) from 4.5%, with the effect of the economic slowdown on state accounts exacerbated by the impact of the so-called “superbonus” scheme.
Adopted in 2020 and extended under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s predecessor Mario Draghi, the cost of the superbonus is expected to top 100 billion euros ($110 billion) by the end of this year, even though the government has already intervened to curtail the programme.
“We have a problem with keeping in check public accounts,” Giorgetti told reporters in the upper house of parliament, the Senate.
Asked whether this year’s deficit target would be met, Giorgetti said he needed fresh data in order to answer the question.
“We are waiting for the latest projections regarding the cost,” he said, adding: “each month of the superbonus costs us 4.5 billion euros.”
($1 = 0.9074 euros)
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte; Editing by Gavin Jones and Mark Potter)
