Editing Bank of Italy (section)

=== IRI and the war ===
[[File:Banca d'Italia - panoramio.jpg|thumb|Bank of Italy building in [[Reggio Calabria]]]]

After the "defenestration" of Bonaldo Stringher, [[Alberto Beneduce]] took over and was forced to retire in 1936 after a "heart attack" during a meeting at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel. They conceived the duty of the banks towards the public interest of the country, as the subject who had to collect savings to lend them to entrepreneurs, as a tool for development and growth. The process was to be led by a "circulation bank", which would increase the speed of circulation of money in the real economy.<ref>''Storia della Banca d'Italia'', page 49</ref>

The Central Bank supported the fascist monetary policy of defending the stability of the [[Italian lira]] (known as the "Quota 90"), through the reduction of discounts and advances, and financing the enormous expenses of wars in the 1930s and 1940s through the unlimited issuing of money (and the "inflation tax", not progressive with income), as [[Hjalmar Schacht]] did in Germany under Hitler.

Operationally, the government issued and sold debt securities to finance [[military spending]], and the [[military industry]] reinvested its government profits in the purchase of such bonds as a ''de facto'' advance on future orders, fueling a closed financial circuit. In simple terms, this was something like the ECB issuing money and lending it to private banks who keep it in their current accounts with the ECB.{{who says|date=July 2024}}

This mechanism was called "capital circuit". The printing of tickets and the scarcity of consumer goods created an overabundance of money that poured into bank deposits, allowing a new expansion of credit, which was directed in favour of the economic sectors themselves. given that the state paid the banks a higher interest on the BOTs than the savers. The absorption of savings into investments in fixed capital had already taken place in the First World War and industries were working with existing production capacities. Without consumption and investments, public spending by the state remained.
[[File:Bari, corso cavour, palazzo della banca d'italia 01.jpg|thumb|Bank of Italy building in [[Bari]]]]

The war could start with a modest tax levy and inflation within the normal limits in the first months, before the black market and ration cards.<ref>{{Cite web|title=GUERRA 1945 – I RAZIONAMENTI|url=https://www.storiologia.it/mussolini/razionamenti.htm|access-date=2021-12-18|website=www.storiologia.it}}</ref>

The situation followed the conflict of interest between the state entrepreneur and the state bank, albeit in the name of a higher ideological purpose.

In 1938, the government decreed the power to directly appoint presidents and vice-presidents of the board of directors of banks.

Beneduce planned to have a public bank take over the long-term credit of large companies, financed with bonds of equal duration for public works, energy, and industry. After them, the Central Bank maintained a low-profile monetary policy, consistent with the directives of fascism.

IRI operated differently, in agreement with the Italian banks and industries that supported fascism. The banks renounced exercising an option by "converting" the debts into shares (or a law in this regard), preferring not to enter directly into the ownership of the industrial groups.

The groups transferred the bank debts to IRI, which became the new owner in exchange for shares (at the book value, not always the same as the market value), until they held control of the property and therefore of management.

The debt of the IRI rose to nine and a half billion lire at the time, two-thirds of which were paid within the war, because they were drastically diluted by inflation which has the effect of lowering the real weight of debts until the accounting entries are cancelled. of issuance, but also to halve the purchasing power of small savers. The remaining debt was paid by 1953.<ref>''Storia della Banca d'Italia'', pag. 53</ref> The IRI in turn had debts towards the Bank of Italy for five billion lire: the State issued bonds for IRI for one and a half billion, "sterilizing" the debt that should have been repaid with "annuity" interest. accrued until 1971. The change of constitutional order and currency (exchange rate for conversion), and inflation meant that IRI (and industries) paid the Bank of Italy less than a third of the sum.

After the armistice of 8 September, the German authorities demanded the delivery of the gold reserve. 173 tons of gold were first transferred to the Milan office, and then to Fortezza. Traces of it were subsequently lost.<ref>Cicchino-Olivo ''Caccia all'oro nazista'' Mursia 2011 ISBN 978-88-425-4500-2</ref>

In the 1960s, the public debt increased and so did inflation. Governor Guido Carli made a policy of credit crunch to stop inflation, particularly in 1964. In general, the Bank of Italy played an important political role under this governorship. Other credit crunches were implemented between 1969 and 1970 due to the flight of capital abroad and in 1974 as a result of the oil crisis.

In March 1979 the governor of the Bank of Italy, Paolo Baffi, and the deputy director in charge of supervision, Mario Sarcinelli, were accused by the Rome public prosecutor of private interest in official acts and personal aiding and abetting. Sarcinelli was arrested, and released from prison only after being suspended from duties relating to surveillance, while Baffi avoided prison due to his age. In 1981 the two will be completely acquitted. Subsequently, the suspicion will emerge that the indictment was wanted by P2 to prevent the Bank of Italy from supervising Roberto Cavali Banco Ambrosiano.<ref>{{Cite web|title=ORA QUALCUNO CHIEDERA' SCUSA A PAOLO BAFFI E SARCINELLI? – la Repubblica.it|url=https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1984/07/22/ora-qualcuno-chiedera-scusa-paolo-baffi-sarcinelli.html|access-date=2021-12-18|website=Archivio – la Repubblica.it|date=22 July 1984 |language=it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=2009-12-09|title=Massimo Dary: Il debito della Banca d'Italia verso tre servitori dello Stato|url=https://archivio.micromega.net/massimo-dary-il-debito-della-banca-ditalia-verso-tre-servitori-dello-stato/|access-date=2021-12-18|website=Archivio MicroMega|language=it}}</ref>