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Italy's new government, made up of the anti-establishment 5-Star
Movement and the center-left Democratic Party, has promised an
expansionary 2020 budget to try to revive chronically stagnant
growth in the euro zone's third largest economy.
Investment spending in Italy amounts to 2% of gross domestic
product, a third less than at the start of the decade. Private
investments are also below pre-crisis levels having shrunk by
30% between 2007 and 2013, according to the Bank of Italy.
Gualtieri told a conference organized by Italian business lobby
Confindustria that the 2020 budget would renew the tax breaks,
which would otherwise expire at the end of the year.
"We also want to extend the incentives to those investments that
support the transition to environmental sustainability," he
added.
The government must present its next budget by mid-October.
The measures currently in place, introduced by the center-left
government of former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi under the
"Industry 4.0" label, allow businesses investing to write off
more quickly the value of "smart equipment" - reducing tax
payments.
Gualtieri, who last week presented updated budget forecasts,
said that also European Union budget rules should offer "a more
favorable framework for investments".
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte; Editing by Valentina Za and Alison
Williams)
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