ROME: The government approved a plan to invest €260 million to promote Italian goods and services worldwide in an attempt to boost exports and attract more investment in the country.
Italy’s minister for economic development, Federica Guidi, on Thursday signed the implementation decree for the investment plan.
The principal aim of the decree is to increase Made in Italy exports by €50 billion over a period of three years, business daily Il Sole 24 Ore reported.
It aims to attract €20 billion in foreign investment as well as target the emerging markets’ middle class.
The government also hopes to increase the number of exporting companies in Italy by around 20,000. In recent years around 200,000 Italian firms operate abroad. The decree must now be reviewed by the Supreme Audit Court.
The news comes after a Milan consultancy firm found that several Italian luxury brands – including Tod’s leather goods, cashmere king Brunello Cucinelli and eyewear giant Luxottica – posted positive revenue growth, ranging from slight to substantial, from worldwide sales in the first nine months of 2014.
