(ANSA) - Rome, October 21 - Italians have been hit hard by
the economic crisis with up to 10% earning less they need to
survive, according to a study by farmers' organisation
Coldiretti.
Results of the study, entitled Italians and their diet
during the crisis, were presented at an international
agricultural forum at Cernobbio in northern Italy on Friday.
Coldiretti found that 62% of Italians surveyed believe the
economic situation will worsen, while 54% said they have
contributed more to the country than they had received.
(ANSA) - Brussels, October 21 - The European Commission on
Friday called for Italy to take urgent action to stimulate
growth as leaders met in Brussels to resolve the eurozone
crisis.
The EU executive body ''notes the delay of legal measures
for development and calls on the government to finalise strong
measures for growth with the utmost urgency'', said a spokesman
for EU Commissioner for Economic Affairs Olli Rehn.
(ANSA) - Rome, October 21 - Premier Silvio Berlusconi's
surprise decision to nominate Ignazio Visco to be the next chief
of the Bank of Italy has been warmly welcomed by the opposition
and country's business community.
The bank's current number three is set to replace Mario
Draghi, who will take over as president of European Central Bank
on November 1.
The 61-year-old prevailed as compromise candidate on
Thursday after months of disagreement within the government
about who should take the job.
(ANSA) - Rome, October 20 - Milan stocks fell sharply and
bond spreads soared on Thursday as investors awaited a decision
by Premier Silvio Berlusconi on who would head of the Bank of
Italy.
Milan's FTSE Mib index dropped 3.78% to close at 15,677
points, the lowest point since August as European leaders
prepared to meet in Brussels for a summit on the eurozone debt
crisis.
(ANSA) - Frankfurt, October 19 - Jean-Claude Trichet handed
over the presidency of the European Centeral Bank (ECB) to Bank
of Italy Governor Mario Draghi at a ceremony in Frankfurt
Wednesday.
Trichet will not officially step down until his eight-year
term ends on October 31.
"His term was during the most difficult period since the
ECB was created," said Draghi in his acceptance speech,
referring to the sovereign debt crisis that still plagues the
eurozone.
(ANSA) - Turin, October 19 - Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne
said on Wednesday that the automotive group's financial targets
for 2011 and 2012 will not be affected by a slump in its
European sales and Tuesday's decision by Fitch to downgrade its
credit rating.
(ANSA) - Rome, October 19 - Amid rising social angst and
youth unemployment, Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said
Wednesday that politicians and private enterprise must all make
strides to address social unrest.
"Everyone must do his or her part," he said, singling out
the financial sector and the "political class", which were
targets of Saturday's initially peaceful protest that drew an
estimated 200,000 to the capital and ended in mayhem when masked
groups started a riot.
(ANSA) - Rome, October 18 - New car sales rose in Europe
last month but Fiat failed to benefit from a 1.1% year-on-year
increase due to a slump in several key markets, Italy first
among them, according to sector data released on Tuesday.
The increase in September sales was far below the 7.8% jump
recorded for Europe in August although the volume of sales last
month was well above that registered in July.
Year-on-year sales in Germany leapt 8.1% over September of
last year while in Italy they sank 5.7%, compared to declines of
0.8% for Britain, 1.3% for Spain and 1.4% for France.
European Commission 'concerned' over growth prospects
(ANSA) - Rome, October 14 - Italy's public debt slipped
below the threshold of 1,900 billion euros in August but urgent
reforms are needed to tackle structural weaknesses which are
hindering economic growth, the Bank of Italy said on Friday.
Italy's debt was said to have fallen from 1,911.7 billion
euros in July to 1,899.5 billion euros thanks to a 2.38% hike in
tax revenue for the first eight months of the year over the same
period in 2010.
At the same time, however, the Bank of Italy said the
country's economic recovery slowed in the third quarter of the
year due to a significant drop in manufacturing in the
July-September period.
(ANSA) - Rome, October 14 - Italy's inflation rate was 3% in
September, the highest since October 2008, Istat said Friday.
The consumer price index showed no change between August and
September but the effect of a 1% VAT hike was beginning to show,
the statistics agency said.
In a preliminary estimate two weeks ago Istat had predicted
a 3.1% inflation rate for September.
(ANSA) - Reggio Calabria, October 13 - Italian police on
Thursday seized 18 million euros in assets from a leading clan
in the powerful Calabrian crime syndicate 'Ndrangheta acting on
information from a boss's daughter who has turned state's
witness.
Eight companies operating in transport, farming and other
commercial sectors were impounded while property was seized and
bank assets belonging to the Pesce clan of Rosarno were frozen,
police said.
(ANSA) - Rome, October 13 - Italian oil giant Eni said
Thursday it was reopening its major Greenstream gas pipeline
from Libya, closed for eight months because of the fighting in
the north African country.
Eni said it and Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC) had
"initiated today testing activities for the release of natural
gas into the Greenstream pipeline", which connects a treatment
plant at the western Libyan coastal city of Mellitah to Gela in
Sicily.
(ANSA) - Rome, October 10 - Industrial production in Italy
in August saw its biggest month-on-month leap in over a decade,
a development leading government ministers saw as an
''encouraging'' sign the economy may be on the move.
National statistics bureau Istat reported on Monday that
output in August jumped 4.3% over July, when it slipped 0.3%,
putting it 4.7% above its level in August of last year.
Economists had been expecting a month-on-month increase of
0.2% in August.
(ANSA) - Rome, October 10 - Italian Foreign Minister Franco
Frattini on Monday criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel
and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for allegedly trying to
manage the European sovereign debt crisis via a 'bilateral
axis'.
Merkel and Sarkozy promised to present a new package to
solve the euro zone's debt crisis by the end of the month after
meeting in Berlin on Sunday.
''We don't think a global situation can be solved with
bilateral axes,'' Frattini told reporters at the fringes of a
meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.
