an austerity budget.The IMF said Rome may be being too optimistic about economic growth.Deficit target[IMF] directors stressed that decisive implementation of the package is key and a number of them felt that more front-loaded spending measures would have a positive effect on market sentiments, said the IMF report.It added that Italy's plans on tax reform lacked detail.Concern about Italy's finances saw its main share index, the FTSE MIB, fall as much as 4% at one point on Tuesday mbt shoes clearance, before recovering to rise 1.2%.Italy's Finance Minister, Giulio Tremonti mbt shoes clearance australia, is proposing 48bn euros ($67bn MBT shoes uk; £42bn) in budget cuts over three years, and aims to cut the deficit to zero by 2014 from this year's 3.9% of gross domestic product.He left a meeting of European Union finance ministers in Brussels early on Tuesday so he could continue to work on the austerity plans.In a sign that investors are worried about Italy's financial situation, the yield on Italian 10-year bonds on Tuesday increased to 5.8% from 5.6% on Monday.Analysts say this is close to levels at which the Italian government will have problems servicing its debts.As concerns about the debt crisis in the eurozone continue, the Irish Republic had its debt-rating cut to junk status by ratings agency Moody's on Tuesday.Moody's said there was a growing possibility that the country would need a second bail-out from the European Union and the IMF.The Irish Republic is one of three eurozone countries that have so far needed such financial support, the other two being Greece and Portugal.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have hammered out a common position on the euro debt crisis.A statement by the French president's office said agreement had been reached after seven hours of talks in Berlin.It comes ahead of a crunch meeting of eurozone leaders to resolve the Greek debt crisis and prevent further contagion to other eurozone economies.Details of the deal have not yet been released.Jean-Claude Trichet, the European Central Bank president Related articles:

• http://www.leaguestats.co.uk/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=319300&PID=363245#363245
• http://www.xquery.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=59707&PID=69890#69890
• http://www.sufc.co.za/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1798374&PID=2074414#2074414