Italy Economy
Italy is a country facing economic and political upheaval. With a Parliament pressing hard to pass reforms designed ultimately for leading to the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Italy is in fact a country in economic turmoil. If we evaluate the state of the economy, it does leave little room to deny this current economic crisis has been years in the making. So now, it will be left to a new Prime Minister to solve financial problems decades in the making that are central to the debt crisis now dragging down the European -- and the global --economies. Just this month we have witnessed, hundreds of protesters, most of them young people, demonstrating outside the Treasury Ministry building, protesters were
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However, the government has so far failed to introduce the structural reforms needed to boost Italy's growth -- now estimated to be around 1.0% this year.
Italy’s debt stands at 1.9 trillion EU ($2.6 trillion US), or 120% of gross domestic product. Compare that to the combined Greece, Ireland and Portugal’s debt – around 640 billion as at full year 2010, according to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Italy faces around 380 billion in bond repayments and deficit costs by the end of 2012, according to Evolution Securities' analyst Elisabeth Afseth. Its next major payment is 26 billion, due in February next year. With its funding costs now over 7%, that could prove a huge hurdle.
The oft-quoted 7% figure is, by and large, arbitrary. It is regarded as the level at which countries can no longer fund themselves - but depends on how long it stays at that level and how much the country needs to raise. Italy, ministers are scheduled to sign off on a package of tax increases and spending cuts in the upcoming weeks. Some of the expected measures include an increase in the retirement age for many workers, a hike in income tax for higher income brackets and new taxes on private assets and housing. The measures come at the start of one of the most crucial weeks since the creation of the single currency more than a decade ago with European leaders
Federal debt has been increasing for at least the past ten years. Currently, federal debt is $19,929,184,161,352.13 (Chantrill). The national debt has nearly doubled throughout Obama’s presidency and President elect Trump’s ideas do not look promising for change. It is estimated that Trump’s tax cuts will raise federal debt by $7.2 trillion within the next decade (Mauro). Many debt crises have occurred because of declines in growth. When
Currently, the United States owes approximately $19 trillion in National Debt. It is owed to Mutual funds, pension funds, foreign governments, foreign investors, American investors and many others. From the year 1959 to 2015, the United States debt has gone up by around 7554% from the debt in 1959 starting at $285 billion. The debt itself has increased by around 9 trillion since Barack Obama has taken the Presidential office in 2009. Everything has been done to increase national debt, but nothing has been made to reduce the national debt.
Italy is an European country. Italian is its official language, and 93% of the population is native Italian speakers. Its ethnic background includes small clusters of German-Italians, French-Italians, Slovene-Italians, Albanian-Italians, and Greek-Italians. With various clusters of people come various beliefs in religion. Religion has influenced the culture, artists, and national treasures of Italy in various ways.
The economy of Italy hadn’t made any noticeable recovery since World War I. Mussolini wanted to improve and advance the economic state of Italy.
The interest payment burden is the real risk that the government faces with increased federal debt.Economists have said that if interest payments hit 12% of GDP there are high chances of the U.S government defaulting its debt.For instance, it is evident that the United States is not currently paying its outstanding debts. New treasuries are being issued to refinance the existing treasuries. For instance, in a case where $100 billion treasuries are matured, the treasure borrows $100 billion additional from revenues through $100 billion new treasuries issuance rather than paying back the initial $100 billion from government revenues. It is more likely that interest rates will vary when new treasuries are issued from those of existing treasuries.
On June 1946, 54 percent of Italians had voted to abolish the royal monarchy and they royal family is expelled from the country to avoid uprisings. Now, they had to create an Italian Constitution, in which was put into the hands of the Constituent Assembly. This Assembly was made up of the Christian Democratic Party, the Socialist Party, and the Communist Party. World War II caused high inflation in Italy and they did not stabilize their economy until 1947. However, once the economy was stabilized a time called the “Italian Economic Miracle” emerged. This time was of great economic growth and urbanization. Italy was in ruins after the second world war but it was given $1,5000 million from the US’ Marshall Plan. This was due to the fact they were seen as a democratic ally and the US was afraid a communist country would take Italy. This money allowed Italy to build up its steel industry which happened to come at a crucial time when the Korean war was in need of steel products which boosted the economy. This sudden expansion in industry made Italy a safe haven for immigrants. Due to the sudden influx of people, suburbs and cheap apartments became common. The common life for people became much better as products become cheaper and more
At the end of World War 2, Italy was still a kingdom but the country had suffered greatly; with forces allied to the west and fascist units allied to Germany (fighting on Italian soil since 1943), there was deep division
Italy is currently said to be in a recession, with industrial output dropping 6.6 percent in the last year. The shutdown of factories has been announced by Fiat in the wake of falling car sales. Italy is referred to as the “sick man of Europe” due to political instability, lack of infrastructure development and economic stagnation. The average annual rate of growth in Italy is 1.23 percent compared to the 2.28 percent average growth rate in the EU over the last ten years. In January of this year unemployment hit 8.6 percent yet it is predicated that Italy will pull out of its recession by the end of 2010. ("Economy of Italy," 2010)
These countries are now facing great recessions and austerity as a result of these debts. Because Italy, Belgium and Greece are experiencing fiscal correction, the battle is far from over. Many other members of the EU will need to build up their fiscal surplus to counterbalance the vast debt that has been accumulated. The EU is really no different that the U.S. in that it needs to place full attention on its crisis and correct the situation immediately. Europe has crumbled more than the U.S. has as a result of the crisis. Europe is more segregated than the U.S. and doesn’t offer the same stability for foreign investment than the U.S.
The public debt of Italy is growing exponentially, hitting 5.8 percent in 2009. Its unemployment was over 9 percent last year and is expected to top 10.5 percent this year. Italy continues to struggle with budget deficits and a high public debt, which is at 2.6 percent and 105.9 percent
The Eurozone is facing a serious sovereign debt crisis. Several Eurozone member countries have high, potentially unsustainable levels of public debt. Three—Greece, Ireland, and Portugal—have borrowed money from other European countries and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in order to avoid default. With the largest public debt and one of the largest budget deficits in the Eurozone, Greece is at the centre of the crisis. The crisis is a continuing interest to Congress due to the strong economic and political ties between the United States and Europe.
Italy has been shaped by its history of constant warring and many rulers, which in turn has made Italians doubtful toward authority as well as giving them a strong ability to survive difficult situations (Welcome to Italy).
The European sovereign debt crisis, which made it difficult or impossible for some countries in the euro area to repay or re-finance their government debt without the assistance of third parties (Haidar, Jamal Ibrahim, 2012), had already badly hurt the economies in “PIIGS”, Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain. This financial contagion continues to spread throughout the euro area, and becomes a dangerous threat not only to European economy, but also to global economy.
That scenario was realised in 2010and 2011. The most despairing case, Greece,was granted two bailout packages: €110 billion and then another €109 billion, the latter accompanied by a further €50 billion in 'voluntary' funding (or write-downs) by private institutions. That is almost €100 billion short of total Greek public debt of €363 billion in 2011. Raoul Ruparel calculates that by 2014, every household in the Eurozone will be financing €1,450 of Greek public debt.' It could go higher as negotiations on the terms of agreements and their actual implementation continue.( POLICY • Vol. 28 No. 1 • Autumn 2012 THE EURO CRISIS)
Now Italy has many problems in economic sector. The first is that it has very high debt level. Because of it Italy now is in crisis situation. Also Italian living standards have a considerable north-south divide. Italy suffers from structural weaknesses due to its geographical conformation and the lack of raw materials and energy resources. The country has an inefficient state bureaucracy, low property rights protection and high levels of corruption, heavy taxation and public spending that accounts for about half of