“The authorities’ policies could leave Italy vulnerable to a renewed loss of market confidence,” an International Monetary Fund annual report on the country said. “Italy could then be forced into a notable fiscal contraction, pushing a weakening economy into a recession. On January 31, official data showed that the Italian economy, the eurozone’s third largest, contracted in the fourth quarter of 2018, which meant the country was in a technical recession. The IMF report praised the coalition government’s “objective to improve economic and social outcomes (as) welcome”. The IMF report emphasised Wednesday that Italy “needs to tackle long-standing structural impediments to productivity growth.

Source: The Guardian February 06, 2019 20:37 UTC