The ‘Considerations’ of the Governor of Bankitalia Visco: ‘Rethink the future’

by time news

AGI – Rethinking the future to build a stronger, fairer and greener Italy. On Monday, the governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, will read his tenth ‘Final considerations’ and, for the second consecutive time, he will do so in front of a half-empty hall for participants. The pandemic continues to impose its rules and only about fifty guests will be allowed to attend the event live. All the others will have to settle for TV or direct internet.

Compared to last year, however, the climate has changed. The coronavirus, thanks to vaccines, seems to bite less and the end of the tunnel is getting closer. GDP, according to Bank of Italy estimates, will grow this year by over 4%. “The start of vaccination campaigns in Italy and in the rest of the world”, Visco said on the occasion of the ordinary meeting of the participants, “induces a cautious optimism for the future”. And yet, he added, “uncertainty remains about the evolution of the health crisis and, consequently, the prospects for the economy”.

Italy is at a crucial junction. The Recovery Fund money represents an opportunity that cannot be wasted. The interventions of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the governor observed, “must be aimed at increasing the growth potential, defining the projects and management methods in order to allow their prompt realization, within the tight deadlines set by the European program and in compliance with the detailed operational indications of the European Commission “.

For public administrations this is a “not insignificant” challenge. And that will have to be accompanied by profound structural interventions to give breath to the country. The game of the NRP, warned Visco, in fact risks “not being sufficient to guarantee a lasting increase in the rate of growth if it is not accompanied by reforms that dissolve the knots that hold back development and private investment”.

And the first thought goes to young people and women, the categories that have suffered most from the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic. Italy, recalled the tenant of Palazzo Koch, is “in first place for the percentage of young people between 15 and 29 who do not study, do not work and do not follow training courses”. This is “a dramatic waste of potential at the not only economic level, with particularly serious consequences on the social level”.

Hence the need to think of a different country, in which sustainability and growth find the right synthesis and which is ready to face the challenges of our times. “Climate change and the pandemic,” Visco said, “are the most important global problems of our time. The two phenomena are interrelated, as many of the root causes of climate change, such as deforestation and habitat loss, increasing the possibility of contact between people and fauna, also amplify the risk of new pandemics “.

To do this, however, we need strong international cooperation. “The current economic recovery,” Visco noted, “offers a unique opportunity to promote the necessary changes. As G20 finance ministers and central bank governors have recently acknowledged, we must shape the recovery by investing in innovative technologies and promoting just transitions to more sustainable economies and societies ”.

At the center remains the idea of ​​Europe, without which we would all be poorer. A “stateless currency can last until a certain moment. But then there is a need for a state and a budget union and the pandemic is, in part, pushing in that direction.”

.

You may also like

Leave a Comment