AGL 39.58 Decreased By ▼ -0.42 (-1.05%)
AIRLINK 131.22 Increased By ▲ 2.16 (1.67%)
BOP 6.81 Increased By ▲ 0.06 (0.89%)
CNERGY 4.71 Increased By ▲ 0.22 (4.9%)
DCL 8.44 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.29%)
DFML 41.47 Increased By ▲ 0.65 (1.59%)
DGKC 82.09 Increased By ▲ 1.13 (1.4%)
FCCL 33.10 Increased By ▲ 0.33 (1.01%)
FFBL 72.87 Decreased By ▼ -1.56 (-2.1%)
FFL 12.26 Increased By ▲ 0.52 (4.43%)
HUBC 110.74 Increased By ▲ 1.16 (1.06%)
HUMNL 14.51 Increased By ▲ 0.76 (5.53%)
KEL 5.19 Decreased By ▼ -0.12 (-2.26%)
KOSM 7.61 Decreased By ▼ -0.11 (-1.42%)
MLCF 38.90 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (0.78%)
NBP 64.01 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (0.79%)
OGDC 192.82 Decreased By ▼ -1.87 (-0.96%)
PAEL 25.68 Decreased By ▼ -0.03 (-0.12%)
PIBTL 7.34 Decreased By ▼ -0.05 (-0.68%)
PPL 154.07 Decreased By ▼ -1.38 (-0.89%)
PRL 25.83 Increased By ▲ 0.04 (0.16%)
PTC 17.81 Increased By ▲ 0.31 (1.77%)
SEARL 82.30 Increased By ▲ 3.65 (4.64%)
TELE 7.76 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-1.27%)
TOMCL 33.46 Decreased By ▼ -0.27 (-0.8%)
TPLP 8.49 Increased By ▲ 0.09 (1.07%)
TREET 16.62 Increased By ▲ 0.35 (2.15%)
TRG 57.40 Decreased By ▼ -0.82 (-1.41%)
UNITY 27.51 Increased By ▲ 0.02 (0.07%)
WTL 1.37 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-1.44%)
BR100 10,504 Increased By 59.3 (0.57%)
BR30 31,226 Increased By 36.9 (0.12%)
KSE100 98,080 Increased By 281.6 (0.29%)
KSE30 30,559 Increased By 78 (0.26%)

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi tried to end coalition infighting over his unpopular 2007 budget plan on Saturday, telling allies at a special strategy meeting it was a "courageous" first step toward mending the economy.
The centre-right opposition mocked Prodi's meeting as a desperate move following a draft budget criticised by debt ratings agencies, which downgraded Italy this month to a ratings level on a par with countries like Botswana and Malaysia.
The prime minister, his popularity dented in recent polls, said the budget would not resolve all of Italy's problems.
But Prodi said he hoped his stewardship of the economy would eventually allow for annual economic growth of 3 percent - well above any official forecast for his 5-year term.
Growth was zero last year and the government's target for 2006 is 1.6 percent of GDP. "We're not content with cleaning up (accounts) ... we want an Italy that grows at least 3 percent a year," Prodi told leaders of his 9-party coalition.
The centre-left governs with a one-seat majority in the Senate, and opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi hopes that bickering over the budget could bring down the almost six-month-old administration.
"This disastrous budget will be Prodi's political tombstone," said Isabella Bertolini with Berlusconi's Forza Italia political party.
Berlusconi's former foreign minister, Gianfranco Fini, said the meeting suggested Prodi was scrambling to contain the chaos.
Prodi denied that the meeting was called to retool spending cuts that aim to bring next year's deficit below the European Union's limit for the first time since 2002.
"This meeting wasn't called because of an emergency or to change course," Prodi said. "Now that this (budget) law is ready to go before parliament, it's necessary that we meet here ... to agree on a common path to follow in the coming weeks." Piero Fassino, head of the largest political party in the coalition, praised the meeting as a show of centre-left unity.
The budget envisions aims to cut the deficit by around 15 billion euros ($18.99 billion), "strong and difficult" cuts Prodi said were needed due to the "devastating situation inherited from the previous government".
Prodi said public spending skyrocketed by 90 billion euros between 2001 and 2005. But the government has already negotiated concessions with employers and local authorities who complained they were being hit too hard by the belt-tightening measures.

Copyright Reuters, 2006

Comments

Comments are closed.