Coronavirus, Gualtieri: ‘More resources for the national health system’ – Economy

“The margin for parliamentary intervention is limited by the fact that we have used all the debt margin authorized by Parliament and appears to be limited to improving the measures envisaged.” Thus the Minister of Economy Roberto Gualtieri in a hearing on the Cura Italia decree, reiterating that it is “only the first of a series of measures and we are committed to defining the contents of the April decree which we expect to be operational even before the conclusion of the process of the March decree “.

“The government will continue to support the country system for as long as necessary, and is committed to strengthening the common European dimension.” Gualtieri explained that further anti-Covid-19 restrictive measures will be taken into account in the next decree expected in April, and that a press release “very determined to indicate very incisive budgetary measures” was approved at the G7 conference call this morning. .

A “strong contraction in March is estimated, assuming the continuation of the difficulties also in April and only a gradual improvement in the following two months. The first half” would therefore see a “high contraction in GDP” which would lead to a contraction at the end of the year in 2020 by a few percentage points, serious but manageable and recoverable “.

The government, which had already allocated more resources to health, is “dutifully strengthening” the resources destined for the national health system, a “significant course correction which we are now dutifully strengthening, I believe is one of the lessons of this crisis”.

“We are committed to making sure that shocks are delivered as quickly as possible.” Gualtieri explained that the resources “will be further strengthened and strengthened to be sufficient” also with respect to the “new restriction measures” which have recently seen the closure of factories and all ‘non-essential’ activities and developments in the epidemic and the impact on economic activity “.

Then with regard to the tax deadlines postponed from 16 to 20 March: “In view of the extraordinary emergency, in the face of the delays I can announce that the non-application of sanctions will be assessed for all those cases related to the Coronavirus emergency”, he explained Gualtieri.

The “March revenue result” went better than the “5.3 billion” forecast. Gualtiere recalled that the estimates of loss of proceeds linked to the suspensions contained in the decree were “7.8 billion”. From the revenue acquired so far for March, however, the lower revenues would therefore stop at 2.5 billion. The minister in recent days had repeatedly asked who was able to pay, despite the stops, to allow a more targeted use of resources to those who really in an emergency.