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Italy’s finance minister Giancarlo Giorgetti defended the windfall tax on banks announced in August and urged not to rush the sale of Banca Monte Paschi di Siena SpA, an issue that’s stirring discord within his ruling coalition.
“The tax can be improved,” Giorgetti, one of the most powerful ministers in Giorgia Meloni’s government, said during the final speech of the annual Ambrosetti Forum in Cernobbio, northern Italy. “It is fair, the state gives and the state takes back.”
On Monte Paschi, Giorgetti said that the government will address the sale “without anyone imposing a timing.” Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Saturday that Rome may accelerate the planned sale.
The forum’s audience of investors, business leaders and others isn’t happy about the 40% windfall tax on bank profits, according to a poll done among the attendees, which showed two thirds are negative on it.
Meloni’s right-wing government shocked markets when it announced the move, which wiped out about $10 billion from the market value of the country’s lenders before the administration backtracked on part of the measure.
Giorgetti’s speech was closely watched by investors who’ve questioned how Italy will finance its upcoming budget plan even as the country’s economic outlook worsens.
The finance minister reiterated he expects Italy to grow 1% this year. As recently as June he projected the economy to post growth of as much as 1.4%.
Read more: Meloni Skips Investor Forum To Attend Ferrari F1 Race
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