# Defiant Silvio Berlusconi refuses IMF bailout



## BillS (May 30, 2011)

Silvio Berlusconi refuses IMF bailout and insists he will not resign despite Italian debt crisis | Mail Online

Defiant Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi today refused an offer of financial support from the IMF - and insisted he would not resign.
The 75-year-old leader insisted he did not think his coalition government would collapse as they struggle to deal with their debt crisis.
With its colossal £1.6trillion debt, Italy is now at the eye of the storm and is paying 6.43 per cent to borrow money for ten years.

That figure is perilously close to the 7 per cent level where Greece, Ireland and Portugal were forced to seek a bailout.
But rejecting IMF help the Italian leader said at the end of the two-day G20 summit in Cannes: 'We don't believe this type of intervention is necessary.'
Italy has built up debts 120 per cent bigger than national income. Its fate is crucial to the eurozone, because its economy - the third-largest in the currency union - would be too expensive to bail out like Greece, Portugal and Ireland have been.

Berlusconi earlier agreed to allow the IMF to monitor its progress in carrying through reforms whose delay has sapped market confidence in Italy and ravaged its government bonds.
IMF chief Christine Lagarde said she hoped a quarterly monitoring mission would start by the end of November to check that the reforms Berlusconi promised in a 15-page letter to the EU last month are implemented.
'The problem that is at stake - and that was clearly identified both by the Italian authorities and its partners - is a lack of credibility of the measures that are announced,' she said..'

Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti refused to answer directly answer a question about whether the government in Italy will survive, saying he had nothing to add.
In a sign of the dwindling confidence in Rome's ability to re-pay its borrowings, BNP Paribas reduced its holdings of Italian bonds by £7.4bn to £10.5bn.
The eurozone crisis has rocked confidence across Europe, with many consumers putting their investment plans on hold.
Sales of life insurance policies are falling as the debt crisis and austerity cuts knock confidence of savers, two of Europe's biggest insurers warned yesterday.

Read more: Silvio Berlusconi refuses IMF bailout and insists he will not resign despite Italian debt crisis | Mail Online


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## Immolatus (Feb 20, 2011)

I just heard its definitive that GPap is stepping down.
Id like to know what the odds are that theres NOT a global currency meltdown?


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## BillS (May 30, 2011)

It looks like the leaders of both Greece and Italy will step down. I wonder if they'll pass what they agreed to with the IMF.


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## Jimmy24 (Apr 20, 2011)

They have been talking Italy on CNBC this mornig. Their latest yield on bonds is 6.65....high for sure...euro taking hit this am...

Jimmy


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## Clarice (Aug 19, 2010)

I do believe the tightrope the EU is walking is fraying at both ends.


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