“Unfortunately, Italy will not exit the excessive deficit procedure ahead of schedule this year, as we had hoped, but … this may happen in 2027,” Finance Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said in a statement on Tuesday in response to the fresh statistics.
The figures come as a disappointment to Meloni’s government ahead of the country going to the polls in 2027. The state of the economy will be top of voters’ minds as Rome continues to struggle to contain energy and debt costs amid the ongoing war in the Middle East, and opposition parties argue that Meloni’s failure to meet the deficit target is a direct result of her government’s economic policy based on austerity and a lack of strategy for growth.
Next year, the country’s economy is expected to grow by 0.6% — the lowest rate in the entire European Union — while its debt is set to exceed Greece’s, reaching 139% of gross domestic product.