ROME, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The Italian cabinet on Friday passed the new budget bill for 2026, including tax cuts and other measures worth 18.7 billion euros (21.8 billion U.S. dollars) in total.
The package would allocate 8 billion euros for businesses, and 1.6 billion euros to support families and boost the national birth rate, according to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
It also includes a tax cut for middle-income households worth around 9 billion euros over the next three years, as well as a modest increase in benefits for working mothers, from 40 to 60 euros per month.
An additional 2.4 billion euros will be allocated to the public health system, adding to a 5-billion-euro fund already set aside for health investments. The new funding will be used to provide a pay rise to nurses in 2026, hire 6,300 new medical staff and 1,000 doctors, and boost cancer screening programmes.
The budget set Italy's public deficit at 2.8 percent of GDP for 2026, which would bring Italy in line with the EU's fiscal rules that impose a 3-percent deficit-to-GDP threshold.
The budget bill will have to be discussed and approved by both chambers of parliament before the end of the year. (1 euro = 1.17 U.S. dollars) ■
