(Finance) – “The Southern Italy it is a medium-sized European nation. With approximately 20 million inhabitants, it would be the sixth most populous country in the Union, the size of Romania, bigger than the Netherlands,” he said Andrea Montanino, Chief Economist and Director of Sectoral Strategies and Impact of CDPon the occasion of the event “Southern Agenda 2030 – Where Europe meets the Mediterranean”, organized by Merita Foundation in Naples.
“The contextualization of its size highlights the relevance that adequate growth in the South would have on the overall growth of our country. In other words, There is no adequate economic development in Italy if the southern regions are not encouraged to grow at a rate at least double in real terms compared to what has been observed in the last twenty years. In fact, “if the South had grown at a rate similar to that observed in the rest of Italy between 1995 and 2022, the debt/GDP ratio would be equal – in 2022 – to 127% compared to the current 142%, with a savings in interest expenditure of around 10 billion compared to what was actually incurred. If it had then grown like the European average, the debt/GDP ratio would have been as high as 113%, as in France”, continues Montanino.
“To seize all the opportunities it is necessary to invest in the main competitive gaps – capital for SMEs, human capital and infrastructure -, improving the quality of spending and to “spend cohesion funds well” it is necessary to improve programming, promptly monitor the implementation and impact of projects and think by target. In this context, CDP can also play an important supporting role” concludes Montanino.