The Italian government’s budget plans set it on a collision course with the European Commission. The road to some kind of agreement is likely to be long and bumpy. The Italian government has confirmed its deficit target at 2.4% of GDP for 2019. This represents significant slippage from a previous budget deficit target of 0.8% in 2019. The deficit target has been set at 2.1% for 2020 and 1.8% for 202. But it is not the...
Read More »Squaring off over the Italian budget
The Italian government’s budget plans set it on a collision course with the European Commission. The road to some kind of agreement is likely to be long and bumpy.The Italian government has confirmed its deficit target at 2.4% of GDP for 2019. This represents significant slippage from a previous budget deficit target of 0.8% in 2019. The deficit target has been set at 2.1% for 2020 and 1.8% for 202. But it is not the headline deficit numbers that are a problem, but rather the details behind...
Read More »Euroscepticism is making less of a splash
Renewed political risks are leading to very limited repricing of the sovereign risk premiums.A Catalan crisis, a Dutch eurosceptic-leaning government coalition, the return of Austrian populists, difficult German coalition talks… Eurosceptics have had plenty of opportunities to make a comeback, and yet the market continues to trade each event as largely idiosyncratic in nature.Explanations abound for the resilience of peripheral markets to political risks, including a stronger and broad-based...
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