In the euro area, policies should aim at keeping the cost of capital low, developing capital market sources of finance to complement bank loans, implementing structural reforms to improve expectations of more favourable aggregate demand going forward, reducing policy uncertainty. 21. In Italy, the most urgent interventions are those which safeguard legality and efficiency in public administration.
To repeat what I said last May in my concluding remarks to the Bank of Italy’s meeting of shareholders: “Corruption, criminal activity and tax evasion not only undermine the community but also distort the behaviour of economic agents and market prices, reduce the effectiveness of government action, increase the tax burden on those who do their duty, and restrict productive investment and job creation.