(Finance) – Based on a technical forecast table of Nadefthe incidence of expense for the healthcare in 5 years it will fall from 7.4% in 2020 to 6.2% in 2025 (1.2 pp less), although it should be noted that in 2020 GDP recorded a strong contraction due to the initial phase of the Covid emergency. In the medium term to 2036, assuming an average annual GDP growth of around 1%, pension spending is estimated to increase by 1.9 points (to 17.3%) compared to 2024, compared to an increase of 0. 4 points for healthcare and a 0.3 point drop in spending on education.
However, the cost of interest on debt is progressively growing. According to the numbers contained in the Nadef, in 2023 it will be equal to 3.8% of the GDP or over 78 billion euros, in 2024 it will go to 4.2% of the GDP, or around 89 billion, in 2025 to 4.3 %, equal to over 95 billion, and in 2026 to 4.6% of GDP, reaching 104 billion. These are higher values than those contained in the Def but the upward revision, we read, “is limited and equal to one tenth of a point of GDP per year until 2026, confirming the fact that the high average duration of the debt Italian allows the impact of interest rate increases to be smoothed over time.”
However, the opposition’s reaction was triggered by the decline in the incidence of public spending for healthcare. “Giorgia Meloni’s government continues to cut the national health service while one Italian in five gives up treatment due to the crisis – declared the secretary of the Democratic Party, Elly Schlein -. The public health situation is forcing more and more Italians not to seek treatment and the government’s response is to further cut funding: a very serious and incomprehensible attitude that we will not let pass over in silence. All people must know that Meloni, while looking for an enemy a day, is dismantling our right to health piece by piece.”
“Without a sudden increase in national public health fund of at least 4 billion euros, our healthcare, the flagship of our social and political system, seriously risks default – said the president of Puglia and vice-president of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces Michele Emiliano -. Without funds we will not be able to make the much-needed hiring of staff, nor shorten the waiting lists.”
“I add a further fear for our region, the Puglia – he continued – in which in 2024 we will inaugurate two new hospitals for a total of 1,200 places. But to sustain this commitment we will need the necessary funds.”
(Photo: © Vittaya Sinlapasart/ 123RF)