Italy’s budget deficit shrank in the fourth quarter of last year, to 3% of GDP, compared to a deficit of 5.8% in the corresponding period of 2020, according to the statistical service Istat.
For the whole of 2021, the deficit stood at 7.2% of GDP, confirming the data released on March 1st.
In 2020 the deficit reached 9.6%, when Italy was hit by the first wave of the pandemic.
The contraction of the quarterly deficit is attributed to the strong increase (by 8.1%) in annual revenues, which was higher than the smaller increase of 3.1% in government spending.
Throughout 2021, revenues increased by 9.2% on an annual basis, while public expenditures increased by 4.4%.
Italy’s target for 2022 is for the deficit to reach 5.6% of GDP.
Source: Capital
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