IMF's chief economist urges Italy to toughen budget plans -media

ROME, Oct 12 (Reuters) - The International Monetary Fund wants Italy to make its 2024 budget framework more stringent, as tax cut plans made the Fund \“a bit worried\”, its chief economist, Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas, said in a newspaper interview on Thursday.

Rome outlined a fiscal framework last month that hiked next years deficit goal to 4.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) from 3.7%, and targeted its return below the European Unions ceiling of 3% only in 2026, reducing virtually no debt over the period.

Gourinchas told the Corriere della Sera daily that Italys structural deficit, net of interest spending, was not seen as falling fast enough.

The IMF was “a bit worried” by planned tax cuts that “dont necessarily seem to go in the right direction\”, he added.

It would be “desirable” if Prime Minister Giorgia Melonis government revised its fiscal plans to make them more stringent before they are approved by parliament, he said.

Over the next month Italys budget faces scrutiny from credit ratings agencies, with S&P Global, DBRS, Fitch and Moodys all reviewing their assessment of the euro zones third largest economy.