Italy adopts plan to woo foreign investors
To attract foreign investors by resolving bureaucratic and tax problems they face.
MILAN (AFP) - Italy adopted Thursday a 50-point plan to improve its attractiveness to foreign investors by resolving bureaucratic and tax problems they face.
"The country has a dramatic need of foreign direct investments" and "is not afraid of globalisation," Prime Minister Enrico Letta said following a cabinet meeting that approved the "Destination Italy" plan.
Letta said Italy would hold a series of roadshows abroad to inform investors of the changes, and that he would attend the first next week in New York when he travels to the annual general assembly at the United Nations.
He added the government is preparing a series of privatisations, but did not provide any details ahead of a Friday government meeting dedicated to a 2013 budget revision and changes to fiscal plans for the coming year.
Italy has been stuck in recession for two years and officials say a tentative recovery could begin later this year, although they are forecasting the economy will contract by 1.4 percent overall in 2013.
Austerity and structural reform measures to keep Italy's public deficit and huge debt under control, along with the weak climate in the eurozone overall, have weighed on the country's growth.
