Meloni targets tax cuts, working mums in Italy budget

MILAN, Oct 16 (AFP): Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni outlined her proposed 2024 budget on Monday, focused on tax cuts and incentives to get women back to work after having children.
Ministers in Meloni's hard-right government agreed around 24 billion euros ($25 billion) in new measures focused on support for low- and medium-income families and companies after months of high inflation.
There is concern in the financial markets at the lack of focus on getting Italy's public finances in order, with Rome late last month having raised its deficit forecast.
But at a press conference in Rome, Meloni insisted it was a budget that was "very serious and realistic and which does not waste resources, but concentrates them on the main priorities".
These priorities, financed with 15.7 billion euros in additional debt and unspecified spending cuts, are intended to "defend the purchasing power of families", the prime minister said.
The government is now forecasting a deficit of 4.3 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024, up from 3.7 per cent estimated previously.
The announcement in late September drew an immediate response from the financial markets, with borrowing rates for the debt-laden eurozone country rising sharply.