Forecasters should 'shut up'

2009-06-27 11:13

Rome - Gaffe-prone Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Friday that international financial insitutions should "shut up" because their economic forecasts were undermining popular confidence.

"We should make these people shut up. Their research offices give them forecasts on what could happen and with that they destroy the confidence of the citizens of Europe and the world," Berlusconi told reporters in Rome.

He also accused the media of "encouraging fear" in the economic crisis.

Italian officials have consistently presented a rosier picture on the economy than many of their European counterparts and international experts.

Italy's government is forecasting a contraction of 4.2% in the country's economy this year, while the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development is predicting a shrinkage of 5.3%.

Italy's top industry group Confindustria is also gloomier than the government, forecasting a 4.9% slump. The International Monetary Fund in April said Italy's economy would shrink by 4.4% this year.

- AFP