Italy Introduces Growth Measures

Prime Minister Mario Monti announced a series of measures to spur growth and investment in a move to quash talk of an impending bailout, The Wall Street Journal reports. Growth initiatives include tax incentives for home improvement projects and private investment in research and innovation. The price tag stands at $101 billion, according to government estimates. The Monti administration is also slated to sell $13 billion in state assets in an effort to shrink the country’s $2.5 trillion debt pile. While Mr. Monti called the plan “a very robust initiative”, some analysts expressed doubts about the government’s latest effort to buoy Italy’s sagging economy. “We’re living in extraordinary times, but these measures are too similar to the ones we’ve seen for the past 10 years,” said Fabio Pammolli, an economist with the IMT Institute for Advanced Studies in Lucca.