The Italian government plans this week to present an economic stimulus plan of 80 billion euros (101 billion U.S. dolalrs) in public and private spending on highways and other new infrastructure projects.
About half of the allocation will come from European Union funds that will be made available more quickly, Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti said on Saturday after a meeting of leaders of the Group of 20 industrial and developing nations in Washington, according to Bloomberg News.
Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti |
The government will appropriate 12 billion euros for infrastructure spending and 4 billion euros will be raised from private investors, according to Tremonti.
"The measures are in line with what other European countries are doing and are also in line with our budget," he said.
European governments are shoring up banking systems buffeted by a credit crisis that originated in the United States mortgage finance.
The region's leaders are also increasing spending to revive economic growth