ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s economy shrank by more than expected in the first quarter, extending the country’s recession to seven straight quarters and making it the longest since quarterly records began in 1970.

Gross domestic product fell 0.5 percent following a 0.9 contraction in the fourth quarter of last year and contracted 2.3 percent on an annual basis, national statistics bureau ISTAT reported on Wednesday.

ROME (Reuters) – European Central Bank President Mario Draghi departed from a prepared speech on Monday to reiterate the central bank’s readiness to cut interest rates again if the euro zone economy deteriorates further.

The euro hit session lows against the dollar and the yen after Draghi said in Rome the ECB would monitor incoming data closely and would be ready to cut rates further, including the deposit rate currently at zero.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy can stage an economic recovery without increasing its huge public debt, Prime Minister Enrico Letta said on Monday ahead of a meeting with his Spanish counterpart where he hoped to find support for his calls for a policy switch in Europe.

Data on Monday offered a glint of hope that Italy’s longest recession for 20 years may be gradually easing, though the euro zone’s third largest economy is still expected to contract sharply in 2013 for the second year running.

ROME, May 2 (Reuters) – Italy’s economy minister on Thursday
ruled out trying to renegotiate the country’s budget targets,
even as the OECD called for more budget austerity.

Fabrizio Saccomanni told parliament a move to ease Italy’s
deficit targets – such as may happen with France and Spain -
would be counter-productive.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s economy will contract by more than expected this year and its public finances will deteriorate in 2013 and 2014, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Thursday.

The OECD’s 122 page Economic Survey of Italy, which said Rome’s fiscal deficit will exceed European Union limits this year and next, underlined the tough challenges faced by Enrico Letta’s new government which took office last week.

ROME (Reuters) – Two Italian police officers were shot and wounded on Sunday outside the prime minister’s office in Rome at the same as Prime Minister Enrico Letta’s new government was being sworn in just a kilometer (mile) away.

It was not immediately clear whether the attack was linked to the launch of the new government, but the episode came at a time of bitter political division with rising social tensions exacerbated by a long economic slump.

ROME (Reuters) – There is much about Italy’s new center-left prime minister Enrico Letta, who named his cabinet on Saturday, that is likely to please financial markets and Rome’s international partners.

He is young, moderate and pro-European, and despite his low public profile he has been a member of the European political elite for many years. Letta speaks fluent English and has a sound grasp of economics.

ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s new Economy Minister Fabrizio Saccomanni is a 70-year-old central banker virtually unknown to the general public, who should reassure financial markets and the rest of Europe that the country will not stray from fiscal orthodoxy.

He has spent most of the last 46 years at the Bank of Italy, where he is deputy governor, having been passed over for the top job when Mario Draghi left in 2011 to head the European Central Bank.

ROME, April 27 (Reuters) – Italian centre-left politician
Enrico Letta said on Saturday he had won support of other
parties to form a coalition government that will include one of
former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s closest allies as
deputy prime minister.

Letta met President Giorgio Napolitano after talks with
Berlusconi and leaders of his centre-right People of Freedom
(PDL) party to confirm that he had reached an accord which would
clear the way for a government to be formed.

ROME (Reuters) – There is much about 46-year-old Enrico Letta, named as Italy’s new prime minister designate on Wednesday, that is likely to please financial markets and Rome’s international partners.

He is young, moderate and pro-European, and despite his low public profile he has been a member of the European political elite for many years. Letta speaks fluent English and has a sound grasp of economics.