MILAN (Reuters) – Italy may issue additional debt targeting domestic retail investors to boost liquidity during the coronavirus emergency regardless of the outcome of talks at the European level, the economy minister said on Thursday.
In an interview with financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore, Roberto Gualtieri also said that 400 billion euros ($434.56 billion) in new guarantees for bank loans that were announced on Monday would all be issued this year.
He added that Rome could consider a temporary, direct intervention to protect companies particularly exposed to market turbulence, as had already been announced for loss-making airline Alitalia, which will again be put under state control after 11 years of difficult private management.
Asked whether plans for the Treasury to exit Banca Monte dei Paschi’s share capital and the bank’s recovery were on track, Gualtieri said that talks with the European Commission on the matter had resumed in recent days and that while the health crisis had slowed things down, he remained “confident”.
(Reporting by Agnieszka Flak; Editing by Kim Coghill)
