Italian business bodies say budget doesn’t do enough

(ANSA) – Rome, October 18 – Italian banking, company and industrial employers’ associations on Friday slammed the governments budget bill for 2014, saying that it does not do enough to boost economic recovery. “The law needs to introduce more significant measures for the recovery,” said several top business associations in a joint statement.

The bodies said “rapid and decisive action aimed at cutting public spending was missing” from the budget, adding that there was a need for “a more incisive reduction in taxes and in labour costs”.

Italian Premier Enrico Letta said on Monday this week that the 2014 budget law is to give certainty and solidity to Italy’s public finances for the next three years. His cabinet has approved it, and it now has to be scrutinised and approved by parliament.