Interviewed by Nicola Porro on Rete 4, Giorgia Meloni reiterated the thesis according to which the government’s refusal to tax banks’ extra profits would have given a boost to the granting of new loans for families and businesses. However, the ABI data contradict the Prime Minister. And they reveal how, after the government’s about-face on the tax, interest margins in favor of credit institutions continue to increase.
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Guest of the Mediaset program Quarta Repubblica, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni returned to talk about the tax on banks’ extra profits. As already during the end-of-year press conference, Meloni defended the government’s reversal on the issue and defined the executive’s choice as a win-win operation for the State. But what contradicts it is the data published by Abi itself, the Italian Banking Association.
As is known, after having launched in August a tax on the interest margins – defined as unfair – made by banks during 2023, in September the centre-right majority did an about-face, changing the rule in parliament. With the new formulation, as an alternative to paying the tax, institutions can choose to allocate an amount equal to two and a half times what is due to their capital reserves. Obviously, all the big names in the world of credit have decided to keep the money in their bellies, instead of paying the tax.
According to Meloni, however, the operation was a perfect success. In fact, by setting aside funds from extra profits – the Prime Minister claimed on TV -, a bank becomes more capitalized and therefore “can grant more credits. Thus it not only helps the economy, but it makes more profits and therefore pays more taxes”. Meloni concluded: “For the State it’s a win-win operation, we’ll get the money anyway.” But are things really like this?
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Weak credit and record extra profits
For the moment it seems not, at least so far to the numbers published by the Abi, the association that brings together Italian banks. As mentioned, the change to the rule on extra profits arrived in September 2023. However, in the following months the credit granted by the banks has not increased, on the contrary. Total loans in October 2023 were 3.7 percent lower, compared to the same month a year earlier. November saw -3.5 percent year-over-year. In December -3.9 percent, for a total amount of loans equal to 1,669.6 billion euros, lower than those of August and September 2023, the months in which the majority flaunted the original version of the tax, with no alternatives to the levy .
Things change little, even by focusing attention on the private sector alone. Also here, the performances of the last months of 2023 are all lower than the previous year: -3.1 in October and -3.2 in November and December. The amount of loans to private individuals in December was 1,428 billion, lower than that of August and September. Same thing with regards to credit to families of non-financial companies: -3.2 percent in October 2023 compared to 2022, -3.0 percent in November, -2.2 in December. In this case, the total volume of loans in the last month of the year, amounting to 1296 billion is higher than that of September, but lower than in August. Not only that, in October the lowest figure of the whole of 2023 was reached.
At the moment, therefore, the driving effect on credit announced by Meloni does not exist, just as there are no consequent additional proceeds for the State. Indeed, in the last months of 2023 almost all indicators show a contraction compared to the first part of the year. On the other hand, as the ABI document explains, the demand for new loans remains weak also due to the interest rates, still close to record levelswith an average in December of 4.76 for loans to families and businesses, substantially in line with the previous month.
Faced with such a weak credit market, what continues to run are the banks’ extra profits, those that the government has essentially given up on taxing. In August 2023, when Meloni decided to intervene, the difference between the interest rates requested on loans and that paid to customers on current accounts and other forms of funding was equal to 157 points. In the following months, the margin widened further, in favor of the institutions: 187 points in September, 192 in October and November. In December, the indicator broke the 200 point barrier, reaching 220. A huge increase in the interest margin and the resulting profits, for which the institutions will not pay a single euro, despite Meloni’s theses.
2024-01-23 18:59:46
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