Italy to take stock, eye further moves: Tremonti
Italy will next week start an in-depth look into progress of past efforts to improve public finances and growth and try to find new measures to spur the economy, Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti said on Saturday.
Italy, the euro zone's third largest economy, has moved firmly to the center of the euro zone's debt crisis in recent weeks as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's fractious center-right coalition has dithered over measures to stimulate growth and slash debt.
Our economy needs a check. If some of the things we have done are working we have to communicate them. If there are things to add we will add them, Tremonti told reporters in the French Mediterranean port city of Marseille where G7 finance ministers held talks.
I spoke yesterday about this idea with the Bank of Italy's vice-general director. We must make this inventory together with the economic organizations -- OECD, IMF and EU Commission -- that have expressed great interest to these developments.
An Italian emergency could overwhelm existing euro zone bailout mechanisms and under mounting pressure from bond markets Rome has presented an austerity package to that aims to balance the budget by 2013 and trim a 1.9 trillion euro debt pile.
The deficit-cutting measures are expected to be approved by parliament early next week but there are widespread fears they could further slow Italy's already fragile growth.
Tremonti also said it is widely agreed the world is not over its economic crisis.
It is now almost five years since the start of the crisis in 2007 and it is going to continue, he said.
The crisis has been managed but I do not think it has been overcome and this is everybody's opinion.
(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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