MARIO DRAGHI SAVED THE EURO; FIXING ITALY’S WOES IS A BIGGER PROBLEM

Mario Draghi, Italy's new prime minister, is no stranger to high-stakes jobs. In 2012, the former European Central Bank chief won international acclaim after pledging to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro from collapse, a promise that served as a turning point in the continent's sovereign debt crisis, Julia Horowitz stressed in an analysis for CNN Business.

Now, Draghi faces a different, if equally daunting challenge: steering Italy's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. With support from a broad political coalition and permission to spend an estimated €200 billion ($242 billion) in grants and loans procured by the European Commission, Draghi enters the role in a position of strength. But transforming Italy's economic prospects after years of malaise will be no easy task — even for a man nicknamed "Super Mario."

Draghi takes the reins of an economy that was still struggling to recover from the 2008 global financial crisis when the pandemic hit.

In 2019, economic output grew by just 0.3% over the previous year, compared to 1.6% for the European Union as a whole.

"Italy's most important, fundamental problem is they haven't grown enough for so many years," said Erik Nielsen, chief economist at the Italian bank UniCredit.

COVID-19 has made matters much worse. Italy's economy shrank by 8.8% last year.

While activity is expected to rebound in 2021, helping the economy expand 3.4%, the European Commission is worried that Italy could continue to lag behind for years.

"While some Member States are expected to see the distance to their pre-crisis output levels close by the end of 2021, others are forecast to take longer," the Commission said in a forecast released last week.

"This is particularly the case for Spain and Italy, which are not expected to reach those levels by the end of [2022]."

WEEKLY FEATURE : COLORSTEEL'S PRESIDENT BREAKS BARRIERS