Meloni sees Italy 2026 growth at 1%, matching euro zone

MILAN, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expects Italy's economy to grow by 1% this year, in line with the euro zone, she said in an interview with newspaper Il Foglio published on Saturday.

• Meloni's government in April forecast 2026 gross domestic product growth of 0.6%, but budget watchdog UPB last month issued a more upbeat projection of 0.9%.

• "The Italian economy is holding up well, and data from the first six months of the year could point to 2026 growth of 1%, in line with, if not above, that of the euro zone," Meloni told Il Foglio.

• Italian GDP rose by 0.3% quarter-on-quarter in January to March and by 0.2% in the second quarter.

• So-called "acquired growth" stood at 0.8% at the end of June, meaning that even if GDP is flat in each of the remaining two quarters of 2026, full-year growth will be up 0.8% from 2025.

• "It is also true that the Italian economy has struggled for many years to achieve sustained and steady growth," Meloni added, citing energy costs and low productivity among the reasons.

• "We are working to address these issues, but the results of those efforts will only become visible over the medium term," she said.

• The Italian economy grew 0.5% in 2025.

• It hasn't exceeded 1% in the last three years despite the steady influx of tens of billions of euros of COVID-19 recovery funds from the European Union.

(Reporting by Gianluca Semeraro. Editing by Mark Potter)