Italy has hiked its target for this year’s budget deficit to 11.8% of gross domestic product from an 8.8% projection made in January, Trend reports citing Reuters.
The new target is contained in the Treasury’s annual Economic and Financial Document (DEF) which Mario Draghi’s cabinet approved at a meeting on Thursday.
The new target for the fiscal gap incorporates the impact of a 40-billion-euro stimulus package which the cabinet signed off on at Thursday’s meeting, the source said. Italy has not posted a double-digit deficit since the early 1990s.
The DEF contains multi-year targets for the GDP, the budget deficit, and public debt, which are expected to be officially announced shortly.