Italy’s fudget

Italy is currently in the pits. But it isn’t easy to see how the country can avoid another seven months of political deadlock. This is causing all sorts of problems, the latest of which is that a massive budget fudge looks on the cards. Early reports suggest there may be «one-off» revenue-raising measures worth E4bn to cover «one-off» expenses and prevent the deficit from ballooning even further. Given Italy’s massive public debt and an annual deficit heading toward 5% of GDP next year, fudge i...