Nicoletti Altimari warns against unilateral trade restrictions
Unilateral trade restrictions raise costs without resolving global imbalances, Bank of Italy Deputy Governor Sergio Nicoletti Altimari said in Rome on October 22, 2026. He called for coordinated action at the sixth WE_ARE_IN conference.
Domestic roots cross borders
Nicoletti Altimari linked widening global imbalances to low US saving, weak Chinese consumption and insufficient European investment.
Adjustment requires politically sensitive fiscal choices, with costs often preceding benefits and falling on different groups.
Unresolved imbalances create adverse international spillovers; uncoordinated adjustment can damage global growth and financial stability.
Bank of Italy research finds that Chinese export growth lowers euro area inflation while weakening investment and exports to third markets and deepening strategic dependencies.
Opening the Women in Macro and Finance conference, he also stressed slow progress in women's representation, especially in senior roles, and the value of research visibility and role models.
Public money meets tokenisation
The Eurosystem aims to preserve central bank money in digital payments.
Nicoletti Altimari said the digital euro will provide public money for everyday digital payments.
Pontes, operational since September 21, enables tokenised financial transactions to settle in central bank money; Appia targets Europe's longer-term tokenised markets.
He identified distributed ledger technology and stablecoins as areas requiring attention.
Artificial intelligence can strengthen monitoring and supervision, but requires safeguards, effective governance and assessment of financial stability risks.
Communication carries policy weight
Larger, more frequent shocks and rising public debt complicate monetary policy.
Nicoletti Altimari warned that incomplete euro area integration risks overburdening it.
Because expectations depend on information and its processing, he stressed clear, consistent communication within a credible framework.