Advertisement

Italy to delay budget update to accommodate new EU rules

ROME (Reuters) - Italy will release its regular autumn budget in October rather than September to allow it to use the European Union's most up-to-date accounting methods.

The European Union unveiled in January a new system of calculating national accounts aimed at adapting to technological and economic changes which have taken place since the last procedure was written up in 1995.

The Italian Treasury said late on Wednesday it would wait until September, when data calculated under the new rules will be released by national statistics agency ISTAT, before updating its accounts. It will release the report on Oct 1.

Italy's finances are not expected to make pleasant reading, after it hit a triple-dip recession in the second quarter following years of stagnation, strengthening the view among most economists that it can expect little or no growth this year.

The precise statistical impact the new calculation methods may have on GDP figures is unclear, although in January, EU statistics agency Eurostat said it would add an average of 2.4 percent to the GDP totals of the largest 24 EU economies.

According to Italian government estimates from January, the new methods could add between 1 and 2 percent to Italy's gross domestic product, which totalled 1.56 trillion euros in 2013. That could offer some marginal assistance in meeting the EU's deficit to GDP limits, which Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government has committed to respecting.


(Reporting by Isla Binnie Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)