INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ratings agency SP has downgraded its outlook for Italy's sovereign debt but left its credit rating untouched, upping the pressure on Rome
amid a stand-off with Brussels over its budget.
Friday's announcement, which warned Rome's fiscal policy was jeopardising banks' ability
to fund the Italian economy, followed last week's decision by Moody's to cut Italy's credit rating to a notch above junk status.
"The
negative outlook reflects the risk that the government's decision to further increase public borrowing -- besides exacerbating Italy's
already weak budgetary position -- will stifle the incipient recovery of the private sector," SP said.
'Advertising'The decision indicates
the debt grade could be cut in the coming months.
The far-right League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement, ruling in coalition, have
refused to curb their big-spending programme which forecasts a public deficit of 2.4 per cent of GDP in 2019.
The former centre-left
government had pledged to keep next year's deficit to 0.8 per cent of GDP in a bid to ease Italy's vast public debt, which amounts to a
phenomenal 2.3 trillion euros.
Brussels on Tuesday rejected the new plan outright, accusing Rome of "openly and consciously going against
commitments made" and requesting a revision.
But the ratings decision was met with a renewed refusal to budge by League head Matteo Salvini
and Five Star chief Luigi Di Maio.
"Are ratings agencies unaware of the global financial crisis" Salvini said on Friday, while Di Maio said
such organisations "do not measure the wellbeing of a country's citizens".
"We will continue! Change is underway," added Di Maio.
'No
confidence'The Moody's downgrade, cutting Italy's debt grade to Baa3 from Baa2 -- while setting the outlook at "stable" -- came as
international financial watchdogs sounded the alarm over Italy's economic choices.
"By proposing a budget heavy on debt-fuelled spending,
the country started clashes both with the European Commission and with the market," said Fidelity International analysts Andrea Iannelli and
Alberto Chiandetti.
"Neither has confidence in Italy's projection that its economy will grow at a rate of 1.5 per cent or that its current
debt path is politically and financially sustainable."
SP said it could change its outlook to stable if the recovery takes hold and the debt
burden stabilises.
Since mid-May, when negotiations to form the coalition in Rome began, Milan's stock exchange has lost more than 20 per
The FTSE MIB closed down another 0.7 per cent on Friday.
The closely watched "spread" -- or difference between yields on 10-year Italian
government debt compared to those in fiscally conservative Germany -- has more than doubled, widening from 150 points to 309 points.
The
Italian banking sector, which holds 372 billion euros worth of the country's sovereign debt according to the central bank, has been the
hardest hit, losing 36 per cent on the Milan stock exchange.
'A shared solution'Rome has until November 13 to present a revised budget to
Brussels and faces a heavy fine if it fails to do so.
European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi said Thursday he was confident an agreement
could be reached.
In the meantime, the commission insists it wants to avoid all-out war with the populists.
"It's very important for the
channels of communication to remain open and I'm not going to be the one to close them," Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici told
AFP on Wednesday.
"We need to find a shared solution because Italy is a country at the heart of the eurozone" and "I can't see an Italy
without Europe", he said.
But Salvini insisted this week that the Italian economy is healthy and the new budget "will make it even stronger
and will create jobs".
"We open the little letters from Brussels because we have been brought up well
We read them, we reply to them but we won't change a comma of the finance law," he said.
In a briefing to reporters on Friday, an EU
official speaking on condition of anonymity said Italy could be the next country to call on the European Stability Mechanism -- which since
2008 has bailed troubled economies such as Greece, Portugal and Spain.
"It's hypothetical for now but that's reality," he said.
