Italy follows Spain on missing deficit target

Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti followed in the footsteps of his Spanish counterpart on Wednesday (18 April) by announcing that Italy would need extra time to reaching its deficit target amid a deepening recession.

The Italian government had pledged to balance its budget in 2013, but it now expects the economy to shrink by 1.2 percent of GDP this year, the cabinet said in a statement. It added that the deficit of 0.1 percent previously estimated for 2013 would not be reached until 20...