Italy's Lower House Approves 28-Billion-Euro 2024 Budget

Deputies approved it with 200 votes in favor, 112 against and three abstentions after a second reading. This is the second budget law presented by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing cabinet. The Senate had already passed the financial bill on Dec. 22.

Among its provisions, the budget includes a 2.3-billion-euro funding for the construction of a bridge connecting the country's major southern island, Sicily, to the mainland. It also extends certain cuts to social security contributions (the difference between before-tax and after-tax wages) paid by employers and workers into the next year, which were initially introduced to reduce the tax wedge by 6-7 percentage points and thereby increase the net pay of employees earning up to 35,000 euros annually.

The 2024 budget safeguards pensions of healthcare workers and professionals, allocates funding to secure wages of military and police staff, and provides free day-care for families with more than one child to address the country's longstanding declining natality rate.

In terms of public finance, the budget will elevate Italy's fiscal deficit to 4.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 from the Finance Ministry's forecast in September of 3.6 percent. Meanwhile, it will keep the public debt at 140.1 percent of GDP, almost unchanged from 140.2 percent this year.

According to the Bank of Italy, the country's public debt hit a new record in October, rising by 23.5 billion euros over the previous month to about 2.8 trillion euros, making it the second-largest in the eurozone after that of Greece.

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