Italian energy import costs will double to 100 billion euros

CERNOBIO (Italy) Sept 3 (Reuters) – Italy’s net energy import costs are set to more than double this year to nearly 100 billion euros ($99.5 billion), the Italian economy minister said, warning that Rome does not It could be spent indefinitely to cushion the blow to the economy.

Italy relies on imports for three-quarters of its energy consumption, which increases its vulnerability to Europe’s current energy crisis.

Speaking at Ambrositi’s annual business forum on Saturday, Economy Minister Daniele Franco said Italy’s high debt has reduced room for maneuver going forward.

Franco said measures to help businesses and consumers deal with higher energy bills would be approved next week, after six aid packages totaling so far to 52 billion euros.

“Continuing to offset higher energy prices through public finances, at least in part, is very costly and we cannot do enough,” he said.

Franco said it is important to address the performance of the energy market in Europe, where higher gas prices amid shrinking Russian exports have driven up energy prices.

“What matters is getting the price of gas and energy back to sustainable levels,” Franco said.

Speaking at the same conference on Saturday, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said it was necessary to narrow any links between the price of gas and the price of electricity, and move to a “full decoupling” of gas and energy prices.

Franco said Italy’s net energy imports cost 43 billion euros in 2021, broadly in line with previous years except for 2020, which was affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.

Franco warned that the €60 billion increase expected in 2022 would amount to nearly three percentage points of GDP and would wipe out the net surplus in exchanges with the rest of the world that Italy has recorded in recent years.

“We are transferring a large part of our purchasing power abroad,” he added.

(1 dollar = 1.0049 euros)

(Valentina Zsa and Elvira Polina report); Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Mike Harrison

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