ROME (Reuters) -Business lobby Confindustria on Tuesday said Italy would probably not manage to spend its full allocation of European Union pandemic recovery funds this year, warning such a delay could jeopardise the whole implementation of the plan.
Italy is eligible for more than 200 billion euros ($209.86 billion) of EU funds through 2026, but in the past it has had a dismal record of seeing through public investment programmes.
The Treasury said almost 21 billion were set to be spent by the end of this year, around half of the amount originally estimated.
“This year we won’t reach the quota of investments envisaged,” Confindustria chief Carlo Bonomi told a gathering of foreign journalists in Rome.
“My fear is that we will not be able to utilise all the resources available between now and 2026, also because as the time frame closes, it will be hard to find enough companies to carry out the works,” Bonomi added. ($1 = 0.9530 euros)
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni, writing by Gavin JonesEditing by Keith Weir)
