Economics
The Long and Winding Road to Italy’s Budget
The coalition has kept investors on edge all summer about its spending plans
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Italy’s government is sticking to its budget plans, ignoring the concerns of investors and a bond selloff that’s pushed its yield premium to a five-year high.
Since announcing that the deficit ratio will widen to 2.4 percent of GDP next year, Deputy Prime Ministers Matteo Salvini and Luigi di Maio have rejected criticism by European Union authorities, escalating tensions between the sides. The fiscal targets were released in a haphazard way, with some details dripping out over days. That was just the latest stage in a political struggle that’s had multiple twists and kept investors on edge since the start of the summer.