Italian central bank urges reform as public debt falls slightly

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ROME, Oct 15 (Xinhua): The Italian central bank Friday called for the adoption of reform measures in the country to deal with structural defects that block economic growth, as latest figures showed its public debt fell slightly. The Bank of Italy said Italy, under intense market pressure, needs to employ appropriate economic policies to cut fiscal deficits and improve its structural defects to spur economic growth. According to the bank's data, the country's public debt fell slightly to 1.89 trillion euros (2.59 billion US dollars) at the end of August, compared with 1.911 trillion euros (2.62 billion US dollars) the previous month. A 2.38-per cent increase in tax revenue in the first eight months of this year helped to check massive growth in public debt, it said. While Italy's leading banks have recently suffered a wave of downgrades by Moody's, S&P's and Fitch, the central bank remained confident that the fundamentals of the country's banks were still solid. Meanwhile, a report issued Friday by the European Commission expressed concerns about the prospects of Italy's economic growth. "More incisive actions are needed" in Italy, it said, citing as example the need to "promote environmental innovation, stimulate competition in the services sector and encourage the size of enterprises."