Economy

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s third budget aims to lower next year’s fiscal deficit to 3.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) from a targeted 3.8% in 2024, while cutting taxes for low and medium income brackets. Italy is under European Union orders to slash its deficit after huge overshoots in 2022 and 2023, and has pledged to bring it below the EU’s 3% of GDP ceiling in 2026.However the public debt, proportionally the second highest in the euro zone, is projected to rise through 2026 due to the delayed effect of costly state subsidies for energy saving building work – the so-called “superbonus”.The Treasury forecasts the debt to climb from 134.8% of GDP last year to 137.8% in 2026, before marginally declining.The rightwing government won the final vote on the budget after a second reading in the upper house Senate by 108 to 63. It was approved by the Chamber of Deputies last week.The package widens next year’s deficit to 3.3% of GDP from an estimated 2.9% based on current trends, borrowing an extra 9 billion euros ($9.4 billion) to fund tax cuts and some other expansionary measures. The euro zone’s third largest economy has stagnated in recent months, and growth this year is now seen coming in at around half of the government’s official 1% target.The slowdown may have been even sharper but for the regular arrival in Rome’s coffers of tens of billions of euros from the European Commission under the EU’s post-COVID-19 Recovery Fund.Rome’s fiscal consolidation efforts may be helped, however, by a decline in borrowing costs.The parliamentary budget watchdog forecast this month that yields on Italian sovereign bonds will be significantly lower than projected by the government, with savings of 1.7 billion euros next year and 17.1 billion by 2029. ($1 = 0.9590 euros) More

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The body of Manmohan Singh, the former Indian prime minister whose death has sparked outpourings of grief at home and accolades from abroad, was cremated on Sunday on the banks of the Yamuna River in New Delhi with full state honours.The funeral was conducted in the Sikh tradition as priests chanted hymns, after Singh’s body, draped in the Indian flag, was carried through the capital on a flower-decked carriage pulled by a ceremonial army truck.The flag was removed and the body covered with a saffron cloth before it was placed on the pyre.Since Singh died on Thursday at 92, many have taken up his comment near the end of his 10-year rule that “history will be kinder to me than the contemporary media”.He was referring to a perception of weak leadership as he headed a coalition government facing numerous charges of corruption, which was thrown out of office in the 2014 election won by his successor Narendra Modi.Modi, who called Singh one of the nation’s “most distinguished leaders” after his death, attended the funeral, along with President Droupadi Murmu and representatives of various countries. Modi’s government has decided to allocate land for Singh’s memorial.Singh, considered the architect of India’s economic liberalisation, had criticised Modi’s economic policies such as demonetisation and introducing a goods and services tax.Singh is survived by his wife and three daughters.Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi accompanied Singh’s family on the truck to the Nigambodh Ghat cremation site after the procession from party headquarters in New Delhi, where people joined Congress party leaders and members to pay their last respects.The leaders of the U.S., Canada, France, Sri Lanka, China and Pakistan were among those expressing grief at Singh’s death and highlighting his international contributions. (This story has been refiled to say ‘sparked’, not ‘spark’, in paragraph 1) More

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Treasury Department may need to take “extraordinary measures” by as early as Jan. 14 to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told lawmakers in a letter on Friday.Yellen urged lawmakers in the U.S. Congress to act “to protect the full faith and credit of the United States.”U.S. debt is expected to decrease by about $54 billion on Jan. 2 “due to a scheduled redemption of nonmarketable securities held by a federal trust fund associated with Medicare payments,” she added.She said: “Treasury currently expects to reach the new limit between January 14 and January 23, at which time it will be necessary for Treasury to start taking extraordinary measures.”Under a 2023 budget deal, Congress suspended the debt ceiling until Jan. 1, 2025. The U.S. Treasury will be able to pay its bills for several more months, but Congress will have to address the issue at some point next year.Failure to act could prevent the Treasury from paying its debts. A U.S. debt default would likely have severe economic consequences.A debt limit is a cap set by Congress on how much money the U.S. government can borrow. Because the government spends more money than it collects in tax revenue, lawmakers need to periodically tackle the issue — a politically difficult task, as many are reluctant to vote for more debt.Congress set the first debt limit of $45 billion in 1939, and has had to raise that limit 103 times since, as spending has consistently outrun tax revenue. Publicly held debt was 98% of U.S. gross domestic product as of October, compared with 32% in October 2001. More

-Hackers have compromised several different companies’ Chrome browser extensions in a series of intrusions dating back to mid-December, according to one of the victims and experts who have examined the campaign.Among the victims was the California-based Cyberhaven, a data protection company that confirmed the breach in a statement to Reuters on Friday.”Cyberhaven can confirm that a malicious cyberattack occurred on Christmas Eve, affecting our Chrome extension,” the statement said. It cited public comments from cybersecurity experts. These comments, said Cyberhaven, suggested that the attack was “part of a wider campaign to target Chrome extension developers across a wide range of companies.” Cyberhaven added: “We are actively cooperating with federal law enforcement.”The geographical extent of the hacks was not immediately clear.Browser extensions are typically used by internet users to customize their Web-browsing experiences, for example by automatically applying coupons to shopping websites. In Cyberhaven’s case, the Chrome extension was used to help the company monitor and secure client data flowing across Web-based applications.Jaime Blasco, cofounder of Austin, Texas-based Nudge Security, said he had spotted several other Chrome extensions that had been subverted in the same way as Cyberhaven’s. At least one appeared to have been hit in mid-December. Blasco said the other affected extensions included ones related to artificial intelligence and virtual private networks. He said that suggested an opportunistic effort to vacuum up sensitive data using as many compromised extensions as possible.”I’m almost certain this is not targeted to Cyberhaven,” Blasco said. “If I had to guess, this was just random.”The U.S. cyber watchdog CISA referred questions to the companies involved. A message seeking comment from Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which makes the Chrome browser, was not immediately returned. More

OTTAWA (Reuters) – A Canadian parliamentary committee led by an opposition Conservative Party lawmaker will hold meetings during legislative recess in hopes of expediting the defeat of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government, the lawmaker said on FridayThe House of Commons Public Accounts Committee will begin meetings on Jan. 7 to consider and vote on a motion of non-confidence in the Liberal government, committee Chair John Williamson said in a letter to panel members. The motion would have to ultimately pass in the House of Commons to defeat the government.Parliament will reconvene on Jan. 27.Trudeau, in power since 2015, has been under increasing pressure to quit since his former Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland resigned on Dec. 16.Williamson, a Conservative lawmaker, said he was prepared to hold meetings throughout January with the goal of holding a non-confidence vote as early as Jan. 30. That would be weeks earlier than it would otherwise take an opposition party to propose such a motion.Trudeau’s options have narrowed since New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh, who has been helping keep the Liberals in power, said last week he would move to bring down the minority Liberal government and trigger an election.”It is now clear that the Liberal Government does not have the confidence of Parliament. Conservative, Bloc Quebecois and NDP members — representing a majority of MPs – have all announced they will vote non-confidence in the Liberal Government,” Williamson said in a copy of the letter he posted on social media.Trudeau, however, could prorogue parliament, which would formally end the current session and prevent opposition lawmakers from voting on a non-confidence motion. Singh has said he would present a motion of non-confidence after the House of Commons elected chamber returns from the winter break but he did not say how his party would vote on motions introduced by other parties. All opposition parties would need to back a single motion to bring down the government.The Williamson-led panel has five Liberal MPs, four Conservative MPs, and one each from the NDP and the Bloc Quebecois. Canadian governments must show they have the confidence of the House of Commons elected chamber. Votes on budgets and other spending are considered confidence measures and if a government loses one, it falls. In virtually all cases, an election campaign starts immediately. More