The debts of the PA have fallen to 53 billion. But in Europe we are the worst

According to the estimate reported in the "2018 Annual Report", presented yesterday by the Governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, the total amount of commercial debts of our Public Administration (PA) would be equal to 53 billion (Bank of Italy , 2018 Annual Report, pages 145-146, Rome). 2017 billion is down compared to the 4.

The use of the conditional is a must, given that the periodic survey conducted by researchers from via Nazionale is based on statistical surveys, conducted on companies, and on supervisory reports that show results that, according to the estimators themselves, they are characterized by a high degree of uncertainty (Bank of Italy, 2015 Annual Report, page 125, Rome).

·         We have the highest current debt in Europe and in Naples the situation is disastrous

Beyond the clarification just reported above, which highlights how intolerable it is that the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) is still unable to quantify the total amount of commercial debt contracted by the Italian PA with its suppliers , the coordinator of the Studies Office of the CGIA, Paolo Zabeo, states:

“While acknowledging the commitment made in recent years, no other country in Europe can count on such a huge commercial debt. According to Eurostat data, Greece, for example, has an incidence of non-current payments on the GDP of 1,4 per cent, while with us it is at 2,9 per cent, practically double. An unacceptable situation for a civilized country that continues to produce very negative effects on the budgets of thousands and thousands of companies that supply our PA.

There are many borderline cases, especially in the South. The Municipality of Naples, for example, pays its suppliers on average with 320 days of delay (Timeliness of Payments Report referring to 2018), the ASL Napoli 1 with 167 (data referring to the first quarter 2019) and the Provincial Health Authority of Reggio Calabria with 163 (average data 2018).

·         With the obligation of the electronic invoice, things have improved a bit

"Even if the introduction of electronic invoicing has not allowed the MEF to size the stock of accumulated debts - says Secretary of the CGIA Renato Mason - in the last few years the average payment times have fallen slightly. From the end of March of the 2015, in fact, all the suppliers of the PA have the obligation to issue the invoice in electronic format. A provision that has made the commercial relationship between public and private more transparent, even if the total debt still remains to be defined and the delays in payments of many institutions are often completely unjustified ”.

In the two-year period 2013-2014, recalls CGIA, the Monti, Letta and Renzi governments allocated about 50 billion to honor the payment of commercial debts that, at the end of the 2012, were "certain, liquid and payable". Despite this important economic effort, the stock of missed payments has however suffered a very limited contraction.

·         However, Brussels has referred us to the EU Court of Justice

Since June of the 2014 the suppliers of the ministries, tax agencies and social security and welfare agencies have the obligation to issue the invoice in electronic format, which has been extended to the remaining public administrations since 31 in March 2015, despite this our PA's payment times continue to be very high.

In December 2017, this situation prompted the European Commission to refer Italy to the Court of Justice of the EU. Brussels, while acknowledging the commitment made in recent years, noted that "Italian public administrations still needed an average of 100 days to pay their bills - Since 2013, following the transposition into our legal system of the European directive against late payment (Directive EU / 2011/7), payment times in commercial transactions between public bodies and private companies cannot normally exceed 30 days (60 for some types of supplies, in particular healthcare ones) .-, with peaks that were be clearly superior ".

·         Despite the obligation, many organizations do not use the Siope + platform

Although our PA is among the worst payers in Europe, many were convinced that payment times would be drastically reduced thanks to the introduction, gradually starting in July of the 2017, of the obligation on all public bodies to transmit the information relating to individual payments through the Siope + system (electronic data collection system for collections and payments made by the treasurers of all public administrations. This platform is managed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance).

This method should allow the quantification of the amount of commercial liabilities and the continuous monitoring of the payment times of the debtor administrations.

During the 2018 this system was extended to all public administrations. Despite this, there are still very many institutions that do not comply with this provision and do not allow the Ministry of Economy and Finance to accurately measure the total amount of debt and the related average payment times (The 2019 Budget Law also has introduced the obligation, for the Public Administrations, to communicate annually in April the amount of their past due commercial debts not yet paid at the end of the previous year, if the debt has not been reduced by at least 10 per cent or in the in the event of late payments, starting from the 2020 a provision must be allocated to the Guarantee Fund for commercial debts).

The debts of the PA have fallen to 53 billion. But in Europe we are the worst

| Economics |