to make the path wider by setting out a comprehensive strategy designed to redirect the public finances to more productive uses and to increase the efficiency of general government, especially in spending programmes aimed at accumulating both material and immaterial public capital and at supporting business activity and innovation. it is in any case essential that the fiscal objectives are and appear to be strongly and credibly oriented towards financial stability, and that the reforms are effectively geared towards sustained – and inclusive – economic growth. tables and figures table 1 – macroeconomic impact of an increase ( 1 % of gdp ) in public investment expenditure financed through deficit spending according to the bank of italy ’ s quarterly econometric model years a. baseline scenario real gdp 0. 9 1. 1 1. 2 1. 2 1. 1 gdp deflator 0. 1 0. 4 0. 8 1. 3 1. 6 deficit - to - gdp / ratio 0. 7 0. 5 0. 5 0. 5 0. 6 debt - to - gdp ratio - 0. 5 - 0. 6 - 0. 7 - 0. 7 - 0. 4 b. reduced efficiency of investment expenditure real gdp 0. 5 0. 7 0. 8 0. 8 0. 8 gdp deflator 0. 0 0. 2 0. 5 0. 7 1. 0 deficit - to - gdp / ratio 0. 8 0. 6 0. 6 0. 6 0. 6 debt - to - gdp ratio 0. 1 0. 3 0. 4 0. 6 1. 0 c. increase in borrowing costs ( * ) real gdp 0. 9 0. 9 0. 8 0. 8 0. 7 gdp deflator 0. 1 0. 3 0. 7 1. 0 1. 2 deficit - to - gdp / ratio 0. 8 0. 6 0. 8 0. 9 1. 1 debt - to - gdp ratio - 0. 4 - 0. 1 0. 3 0. 9 2. 0 ( 1 ) percentage changes compared with the baseline scenario. ( 2 ) absolute changes compared with the baseline scenario ( percentage points of gdp ). ( * ) permanent increase of 10 basis points in the yields on short - term government securities and of 50 basis points in the yields on medium - term government securities. source : f. busetti, c. giorgiantonio, g. ivaldi, s. mocetti, a. notarpietro and p. tommas

one considers only the planning phase ). over the last few years average completion times have risen. the increase has related solely to the tendering and execution phases, while the length of the planning phase has remained fairly stable. but there are wide regional variations : it is estimated that the length of time required in sicily, molise and basilicata to complete the same project is more than 30 per cent higher than that required in lombardy and emilia romagna. 14 this means that, over and above addressing a the audit was carried out on the high - speed lines of six european countries and analysed more than 5, 000 km of infrastructure on ten high - speed rail lines covering around 50 per cent of the existing lines in europe. see european court of auditors, a european high - speed rail network : not a reality but an ineffective patchwork, special report, 19, luxembourg, 2018. for a discussion of this topic and the associated references see : i. visco, ‘ efficient spending on infrastructure ’, address by the governor of the bank of italy before the chamber of deputies, 19 june 2012 ( only in italian ) ; banca d ’ italia, ‘ infrastructure in italy : endowment, planning, construction ’, f. balassone and p. casadio, eds., seminari e convegni ( workshops and conferences ), 7, 2011 ; and banca d ’ italia, ‘ the efficiency of infrastructure spending ’, f. balassone, ed., seminari e convegni ( workshops and conferences ), 10, 2012. see the agency for territorial cohesion ’ s report on public works completion times, rapporto sui tempi di attuazione delle opere pubbliche ( only in italian ), 13 july 2018. scarcity of resources or the limitations of the applicable legislation, it is critical that we identify and spread best practices. according to data from the national anti - corruption authority on contracts awarded by italian municipalities between 2009 and 2014, for equal contract amounts, the tendering and execution phases were shorter for negotiated procedures than they were for competitive ones ( by about one year ). there is, however, evidence that although there are benefits in terms of cutting times, recourse to more discretional procedures by ‘ less qualified ’ contracting entities is associated with a decrease in the average productivity of the firms that are awarded contracts. 15 overall, given these considerations, the short to medium term macroeconomic impact of an increase in