国际英语新闻：Italy vulnerable to economic crisis due to high public debt, economist says

MILAN, Italy, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Italy is particularly vulnerable to the financial and economic crisis, especially due to its elevated public debt, a senior economist told Xinhua in an interview on Friday.

"As the crisis evolved from excessive private debt to a high public debt crisis, Italy became decidedly more vulnerable," said Tito Michele Boeri, a professor of economics at Milan's Bocconi University.

For the expert, Italy's weak point is its low rate of growth, which results in a growingly higher public debt. "Between 2000 and 2007, Italian GDP grew 6 percent less than Germany and France, and a slower recovery from the crisis is foreseen," he said.

The depreciation of the euro would boost Italy's exports in the short term, he added, but industry needs to structurally re- specialize to compete with low labor level costs countries.

Speaking of the 24-billion-euro budget correction recently approved by the government to curb public expenditures, Boeri stressed that it aims at reassuring global markets on Italy's financial stability, but it is not enough in sustaining the substantial reforms for growth of which the country is badly in need of.