Monday, December 5, 2011

Monti: Without economic plan Italy would risk Greece situation

Italy would have risked a Greek-style economic crisis without the government's new 30-billion euro austerity package, Prime Minister Mario Monti said.

Monti told foreign press in Rome that the austerity measures might weigh on growth but this would be balanced by an improvement in confidence which would help the economy. He also said that the consequences of not taking tough action would have been potentially disastrous.

"Without this package, we think that Italy would have collapsed, that Italy would go into a situation similar to that of Greece," he told the news conference.