MNI BRIEF: Italy Economy Can Handle Further Rate Hikes- Visco
The Italian economy can cope with the fallout from any European Central Bank “gradual but needed monetary restriction,” Bank of Italy’s Governor Ignazio Visco told an event in Rome Monday.
“The interest rates to look at are not the nominal ones […] but the real ones, which still signal balanced conditions in the medium term”, said Visco, as he underlined the importance that Italy keep reducing the public debt and practice sound public finances to avoid “financial tensions” that would reflect in business and households’ borrowing costs.
The economic measures of the government led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have contributed in reducing the Italian spread to the German bund to around 180 basis points, a number that still remains higher than BOI estimations based on economic fundamentals, Visco added.