The “sovereignty of investments” by Giancarlo Giorgetti

"Encouraging a more dynamic and conscious approach to savings management, channeling it in our country towards productive and sustainable uses " is what Giancarlo Giorgetti said in his first public release for World Savings Day, after becoming the new Minister of Economy and Finance of the Government of Giorgia Meloni.

Gianni Trovati in the Sole 24 Ore and also Fabio Savelli in the Corriere della Sera, defined it as a sort of “ investment sovereignty” , which could channel a substantial part of the savings that today is invested mainly abroad into the real national economy.

Giorgetti also recalled that in the Constituent Assembly, with the approval of the Zerbi amendment to article 47 of the Constitution, the verb "encourages" was inserted next to the verb "protection" and the word savings was given the broadest meaning, adding the formula "in all its forms".

For this reason, he continued, " Today in this time of uncertainty , in order to make the constitutional provision effective, we must encourage savings and allocate it, also through new tools, to support transition processes (such as digital and green) and , at the at the same time, protect it from the risks associated with inflation ”.

This is a crucial issue.

New tools are needed to protect and encourage Italian savings in all its forms, but also to make it more productive, channeling it towards investments in the real national economy.

Today, in fact, the financial wealth of Italians, more than 5,000 billion euros, is mainly used in the following ways:

• 1,600 billion euros are left in non-interest bearing bank deposits, where they suffer a progressive loss of purchasing power, are always at risk of bail-in and do not translate into any form of support for the real and productive economy;
• 3,200 billion euros are invested in shares, mutual funds and insurance policies, with financial products that are more or less risky, but increasingly sophisticated and personalized, which however end up diverting investments mainly on global markets;
• only 200 billion euros are invested by Italian savers in the direct purchase of government bonds, because they are not interested in medium-long term BTPs, subject to large price fluctuations, which risk losing even a part of the capital, if sold before the deadline by necessity.

In a previous article, we tried to identify a new innovative and technological tool, the savings account, which allows not only to protect and encourage Italian savings, but also to channel these financial resources towards greater investments in the real national economy.

https://www.nicolaporro.it/governo-meloni-ecco-come-evitare-lausterity/

The State should open a free savings account with the Treasury, for all citizens and businesses resident in Italy, where the simple deposit of a sum of money is equivalent to having purchased a dematerialized, i.e. electronic, government bond, which however does not float. on the financial markets and therefore has a stable and guaranteed value over time.

Savings accounts are in practice very similar to " repayable postal savings bonds ", with the difference that they are also transferable, as payments between savings accounts are possible. Private banks will be able to manage them remotely on behalf of customers, in exchange for commissions and commissions, as is the case today for the management of securities accounts.

In practice, it is an alternative form of financing to the issue of BTPs or other government bonds, but closer to the real needs of Italian savers, because they are guaranteed by the State and not subject to bail-in, they have a good yield. subject to taxation, they defend the purchasing power of the deposit and can also be used as a payment instrument, without the need to divest.

The savings account would therefore be a new safe, stable, interest-bearing and transferable investment instrument, capable of mitigating inflationary phenomena and at the same time guaranteeing stability in the management of sovereign debt and above all, capable of producing beneficial effects for the economy of our country.

In his speech to the Chamber, Meloni had declared that “The private savings of Italian families have exceeded the threshold of 5,000 billion euros and in a climate of confidence could support investments in the real economy”.

Italy has one of the highest financial wealth in the world, if only 10%, equal to 500 billion euros, were invested in savings accounts rather than in financial securities placed on the markets, we would not only have protected and encouraged the savings of Italians , but we would also have transformed a substantial part of our public debt into new investments for the relaunch of the real and productive economy in the country .

Paolo Becchi and Fabio Conditi.

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The article The “sovereignty of investments” by Giancarlo Giorgetti comes from Economic Scenarios .

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This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/il-sovranismo-degli-investimenti-di-giancarlo-giorgetti/ on Wed, 02 Nov 2022 17:00:15 +0000.