While Italy’s economy is stagnating, making matters worse is the fact that some agencies do not expect that trend to reverse course anytime soon.
“The Bank of Italy and the International Monetary Fund have both revised down their economic outlook, predicting growth of less than 1 percent this year. Political uncertainty ahead of a referendum that’s threatening to topple the government, and banks’ high share of non-performing loans, are weighing on domestic demand, while trade is damped by clouding global prospects and a looming recession in the U.K. following its Brexit vote,” according to Bloomberg.
Related: 10 ETFs Hit the Hardest in ‘Brexit’ Fallout
In Italy, regulators are currently working to configure a bad debt company of sorts to help Italian banks deal with a rising non-performing loan problem. Earlier this year, Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan called a meeting in Rome with executives from Italy’s top financial institutions on Monday to hash out a plan for a state-backed fund to acquire bad loans and cover capital shortfalls, reports Silvia Aloisi for Reuters.
For more news and strategy on the Italy ETF market, visit our Italy category.
iShares MSCI Italy Capped ETF
