Marrakech, 13 October 2023 – Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti attended the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank in Marrakech, Morocco, as well as the G7 and G20 finance meetings.
The topics already on the agenda of the working sessions – from the state of the global economy, to aid for the countries of Africa, to the impact of monetary policy and the consequences of the conflict in Ukraine – were complemented by the participants’ “concerns” over the recent crisis in the Middle East, in particular over the “evolution and possible effects” that these events could have in terms of general instability, as Giorgetti stressed at the end of the meetings.
The Minister also met with representatives of European and international institutions to discuss the global economic picture and illustrate “the strengths of the Update of the Economic and Financial Document and the budget” that the Italian government will approve next Monday.
“We believe we have struck the right balance” in order to provide “resources for the weaker classes and ensure the sustainability of public accounts”, Giorgetti said in response to some of the positions expressed by the IMF: “I have explained to my interlocutors that it is right and proper that the state should do something about the low-income classes. As they read the contents of the Update of the Economic and Financial Document and then the budget law”, he continued, “they will have concrete evidence of our serious and responsible attitude”.
Giorgetti recalled how “our macroeconomic forecasts have historically tended to be more accurate than estimates coming from outside”, stressing that “the question for everyone” will be to understand what will happen in the coming weeks, considering the news coming from the Middle East.
Regarding the markets and the rating agencies, which he also met in Marrakech, the Minister said he did not fear their judgement “not out of arrogance but because of the content of the rules we have written”.
Finally, Giorgetti returned to the subject of the restrictive monetary policy pursued by the ECB, which “does its job” in fighting inflation but pointed out that a politician “must take everything into account, from the real economy to families and businesses”.
On the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings, Minister Giorgetti also had bilateral meetings with the Swiss Finance Minister, Karin Keller-Sutter, and the President of Bank of America’s international operations, Bernard Mensah, as well as numerous informal talks with other European Ministers of Economy.
