ANSA: COVID caused 22.8-bn shortfall for Italian local authorities

ROME. KAZINFORM - The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a shortfall of 22.8 billion euros in the coffers of Italy's regional and local authorities, according to a report released on Tuesday by the European Committee of the Regions, ANSA reports.

It said Europe's regions, cities and villages were on the front line in efforts to tackle the health and economic crisis caused by COVID, meaning they had to spend more to face the emergency while revenues dropped because of it. It said Italy's local authorities were the second-worst hit in the EU after Germany's, which suffered a shortfall of almost 122 billion euros.