Rome – Italy’s borrowing rates spiked to a euro-era high on Monday, piling pressure on Premier Silvio Berlusconi to resign and make way for a new government that could more forcefully push through desperately-needed economic measures.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Two journalists close to Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said he could resign as early as Monday, immediately boosting bond and stock markets.
Giuliano Ferrara, editor of the Foglio newspaper and a former minister seen as extremely close to Berlusconi, said on its website: “That Silvio Berlusconi is about to resign is clear. It is a question of hours, some say of minutes.”
Franco Bechis, vice-director of the pro-Berlusconi Libero newspaper, said on Twitter Berlusconi would resign on Monday night or Tuesday morning.
UPDATE 8:45 AM
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has dismissed swirling rumors that he was on the point of resigning, a senior lawmaker in his ruling center-right coalition said on Monday.
“I spoke to the prime minister a short time ago and he told me the rumors of his resignation were baseless,” Fabrizio Cicchitto, head of the parliamentary group of Berlusconi’s PDL party said in a statement.
Separately, Italian news agency ANSA quoted Berlusconi, also dismissing the talk as baseless.