MNI: Italy Business New NPAs To Drop 2.1% In 2019/20 - Report

By Silvia Marchetti

     ROME (MNI) - Italian businesses' non performing assets are expected to drop

to pre-crisis levels over the next two years as companies regain profitability

and banks boost their financial outlook, a report said on Friday. 

     According to a report jointly published by the Association of Banks in

Italy, the banking lobby, and credit risk think-tank Cerved, the rate of

incoming new business bad loans will drop 2.1% in 2019-2020, finally returning

to pre-crisis levels. 

     The number of ailing businesses burdened by new incoming bad loans is

falling significantly as the Italian economy strengthens, the survey shows. The

report portrays the rosiest outlook in the past eight years,  measuring the

degree of resilience of Italian companies and how well they are performing in

paying loan debts, thus reducing their burden on the bank system.

     The fresh data shows that Italian companies NPLs are falling and will

continue to do so over the year, down to 2.5%. The improvement regards all

business sectors and firms, both small, medium and large, and is wide-spread

across the country even in the poorer southern areas. 

     Banks' bad loans have fallen 26% in the past eight years, the report noted.

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com

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