Italy Considers Budget Cuts, Rising Borrowing Costs
10 November 2011
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi, center, attends a meeting of parliament Tuesday. Mister Berlusconi's side won the vote, but he lost his majority.
This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.
The economic situation in Italy is worrying investors and may have cost its prime minister his job. Like Greece, Italy is facing pressure to make unpopular cuts in government spending. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been seeking to enact measures meant to satisfy his country’s creditors. The interest rate Italy can expect to pay for borrowing money is increasing and recently passed seven percent.
This week, Mister Berlusconi won a budget vote in Italy’s lower house of parliament.
(SOUND)
TRANSLATOR: Three-hundred-nine attending, three-hundred-eight in favor, one boycotted, no vote against the chamber approves…”
But the prime minister lost something else. A majority of lawmakers in the lower house refused to vote. It appeared Mister Berlusconi had lost their support. He announced on Tuesday that he would resign after parliament passes budget cutting measures.
Italian government debt is about one hundred twenty percent the size of the country’s economy. That is second only to Greece in Europe. Greece, Ireland and Portugal have all required rescue loans to help them pay creditors. But unlike those nations, Italy has the third largest economy using the euro. And it is among the ten largest economies in the world.
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