By Stefania Fumo
ROME, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- Fitch ratings agency on Friday cut Italy's 2019 economic growth outlook from 1.1 percent to 0.3 percent, well below the 1 percent growth on which the Italian government's budget is based, on the same day as the country's Audit Court warned public finances face tough times ahead.
Established in 1862, Italy's Audit Court is tasked with oversight of "the appropriate and efficient use of public funds", according to its website.
"2019 and the following years will not be easy for the government with reference to public finances," Audit Court President Angelo Buscema said in a televised statement at the inauguration of the 2019 judicial year in Rome, which was attended by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, President Sergio Mattarella, and top lawmakers.
The ongoing downturn in the international economy "will make the margins of action for balancing deficit and debt more stringent," Buscema said. "The space in which to guarantee a debt reduction path, albeit a slow one, appears to be very contained, placing the country on a particularly narrow ridge."
The Fitch cut follows on that by Moody's ratings agency, which saw Italy's economy growing between 0-0.5 percent this year, down from a previous estimate of 1.3 percent, prompting Moody's lead analyst Kathrin Muehlbronner to tell ANSA Italian news agency at the Moody's Credit Trends Conference in Milan on Thursday that "we see a significant risk of early elections, probably after the European (Parliament) elections (in May)."
In Italy, Prometeia financial advisors and asset management company analysts also revised downward their growth outlook for Italy's economy, from 0.9 percent to 0.5 percent in 2019.
"The downward revision is significant, reflecting both the negative legacy of the last six months of 2018 and the lower expansive impulse expected from the (government) budget package compared to the first draft of the budget," Prometeia analysts wrote.
The company also cited ongoing China-U.S. trade tension, Brexit, and the upcoming European elections as sources of uncertainty that are causing the economic slowdown beyond Italy's borders.
Italy is currently in recession following two back-to-back quarters of negative growth (-0.1 percent in the third quarter and -0.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2018), representing the third time in ten years that the Italian economy has fallen into recession.
