Thaindian News

Rome, Dec 9 (IANS/AKI) Italian industrial production in October suffered its steepest fall in almost two years as the country faced declining demand amid an economic crisis that will probably lead to recession and risked the future of the euro currency.

Adjusted for working days, October industrial output fell 4.2 percent over the prior year, national statistics agency Istat said. It declined 0.9 percent when compared with September, suggesting the value of the country’s economic output could be declining.

Italy’s new government Sunday presented a plan to cut 30 billion euros in spending that includes making Italians work longer before retirement. The move comes weeks after investor worries that weak growth could lead to difficulty for Italy to pay interest on its 1.9 trillion-euro debt load caused Silvio Berlusconi’s government to collapse setting the stage for a so-called technical government led by former European Union commissioner Mario Monti.

The euro zone’s third-richest country with the second-biggest debt may already be in recession, according to the Confcommercio. Italy’s leading association of small and medium-sized businesses Tuesday said Italy is probably already in a recession that will continue into next year when the economy should contract 0.6 percent.

That reflected comments made last week by Corrado Passera, the former chief executive of the Banca Intesa Sanpaolo bank who resigned to take on the job of minister for industry, transport and infrastructure.

“It’s a very difficult moment. We are certainly risking a return to recession,” Passera said Dec 1.

October’s worst sector performer was energy, which fell 6.3 from September, Istat said.

–IANS/AKI
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