Bloomberg Italy’s government expects debt to rise more than expected this year, as it gets ready to boost fiscal stimulus to support its battered economy. The Treasury, led by Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri, expects Italy’s debt to rise to 158.5% of output in 2021, up from 155.6%, while the country’s budget deficit would be 8.8%. The new forecasts, first reported ...

Bloomberg American automakers are asking the US government to help solve a debilitating shortage of computer chips that is closing auto factories worldwide and could restrict production until the fall. The American Automotive Policy Council — a lobbying organisation for General Motors, Ford Motor and the US operations of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles — is agitating with the US Commerce Department ...

Bloomberg UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak is planning to give a one-time benefit payment of 500 pounds ($680) to nearly six million people to help ease the economic fallout from a third coronavirus lockdown, the Times of London reported. The plans come ahead of an April deadline when last March’s 20 pound-per-week uplift to universal credit payments is ...