Chinese financial newspaper, 21st Century, interviewed me to discuss the italian referendum and the general economic situation in Italy. Full article here, in Chinese.
Italy will hold a referendum on constitutional reform in December 4th. Although Renzi has carried out a series of reforms since he took office, Italian people are very disappointed with the low economic growth in Italy. As OECD forecasted, Italy’s economy will grow by 0.8% this year, 0.9% and 1% in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
“It seems that Italy can’t see any hope in its future. “While interviewed by 21st century business herald, Geraci said, “Currently Italian economy and social conditions are in the doldrums. Lot of young people who cannot find jobs left Italy, which worsen the aging problem for the country.”
The biggest risk of the referendum is, if the reforms are not passed, Renzi will leave his position of Prime Minister of Italy. M5S may rise to power, and that may lead to questioning Italy’s membership in the Euro zone. A number of polls show that the constitutional reform proposed by Renzi government is more likely to fail.
From Geraci’s point of view, the possibility of Italy leaving the Euro zone cannot be underestimated. “There are numbers of movements that support Italy to leave the Euro zone in different areas of the country. Even if the proposed reforms go through, there will still be many people who support the exit from the Euro. And I am part of that group of people who believes that the Euro is making the economic situation in Italy worse than it would be without it.”