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Italy rejects recession fear
ITALIAN economy minister Pier Carlo Padoan yesterday insisted the country’s economic strategy was sound despite it unexpectedly falling back into recession in the second quarter.
Data released on Wednesday showed that economic output had contracted 0.2 per cent in the second quarter after falling 0.1 per cent in the first. It was the 11th fall in GDP in the past 12 quarters.
In a rowdy session in parliament, Padoan said: “It would be wrong and misguided to judge the effectiveness of the government’s policies on the basis of the economic trend of a few quarters, as many commentators are doing.”