Italy’s government cut its growth forecast for this year and next and pushed back its structural balanced-budget target by one year as the economy remains in a recession. “The economic outlook has greatly deteriorated,” Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said at a press conference in Rome as he presented the plan yesterday. The government now sees gross domestic product shrinking 0.3 percent this year, compared with an increase of 0.8 percent predicted in April. Its plan envisages a slower-than-expected recovery in 2015, with GDP expanding 0.6 percent compared with a previous estimate of 1.3 percent. Premier Matteo ... (full story)