UPDATE: Italy Fin Min: Will Start Cutting Deficit In '10
BRUSSELS -(Dow Jones)- Italy plans to start consolidating its public finances
next year, limiting the adjustment to 0.5 percentage points of gross domestic
product a year, Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said Tuesday.
"Everyone's going to have to take the medicine, and we're being told that we
must be the first to take it, but that the dosage can be minimal," Tremonti told
a press conference after the monthly meeting of European Union finance ministers
in Brussels.
The European Commission is asking EU member states to put their accounts in
order, after efforts taken to smooth the economic slump caused deficits to
swell.
Thirteen of the euro zone's 16 members are exceeding the criteria of the
growth and stability pact, which require that countries bring their budget
deficit to below 3% of GDP.
Tremonti said he's concerned about recent developments on global financial
markets, echoing concerns expressed elsewhere that the zero-interest-rate
policies followed by central banks the world over may bring about another asset-
price bubble.
"There's an enormous amount of liquidity, and some signs are worrisome, like
the derivative markets, the value of stock markets, the [growing] public debt,"
Tremonti said.
-By Gabriele Parussini, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 4017 1766;
gabriele.parussini@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-10-090929ET
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