MARRAKECH (Reuters) – There is great concern among the world’s major economies about the fallout from the crisis in the Middle East after last week’s attack on Israel, Italy’s economy minister said on Friday.
Speaking on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in Marrakech, Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said he was worried by many things including markets, after Italy hiked its deficit targets over the 2023-2025 period.
Giorgetti said he did not fear a sovereign debt downgrade of Italy but could not rule it out either.
“Who can rule it out? Can I rule out that I’ll trip if I start walking?,” he said.
Italy will unveil next week a difficult 2024 budget aimed at cutting taxes for workers and trying to make it financially easier for women to have children, amid growing market concerns over the country’s public debt.
Turning to the Middle East crisis, Giorgetti said concerns were voiced at the Marrakech meetings about the fallout from the war in terms of global geopolitical and economic instability.
“The real problem is to be able to contain the (Middle East) crisis as much as possible so as not to create another element of infection on top of Ukraine’s crisis,” Giorgetti told reporters.
Israel’s military on Friday called for all civilians of Gaza City, more than 1 million people, to relocate south within 24 hours, after the weekend attacks by Hamas militants killed more than 1,300 Israelis, mostly civilians.
More than 1,500 Palestinians have already been killed in retaliatory attacks.
(Reporting by Elisa Martinuzzi, writing by Giuseppe Fonte, editing by Valentina Za)
