Italy Sees More Growth

Italy’s finance minister said he expected a small improvement in the country’s structural balance and faster economic growth, offering partial reassurance to markets and European Union partners concerned that the coalition government will ramp up spending, Reuters reported. Giovanni Tria told reporters after a meeting of EU finance ministers in Vienna that “obviously there will be an improvement” in next year’s structural balance, which excludes one-off expenditures, although it was likely to be very small. He also added that new data showed that Italy could have more robust economic growth than currently forecast this year—an improvement that could allow more spending without breaching EU rules. EU rules require Italy to achieve a large improvement in its fiscal balance next year. Tria did not provide a target figure for Italy’s headline and structural deficit next year, saying that the numbers will depend on coming economic estimates. But he showed optimism on Italy’s growth outlook. “Incoming data are a bit more reassuring” than forecasts of a slowdown released in July, he said, without elaborating.