Italy: Economy unaffected by govt crisis - IMF sees progress in state finances continuing

(ANSA) - Washington, January 29 - The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that the government crisis in Italy was unlikely to affect the ''positive'' direction that its economy has taken recently.

Italy's economy will grow less than expected in 2008, in line with the rest of the euro zone, but not because of political uncertainty, economists at the Washington-based institution said. The IMF's new World Economic Outlook report cut its previous forecast for global growth in 2008 by 0.3% to 4.1%, against the 4.9% posted in 2007. The forecast for euro zone countries was cut from 2.1% to 1.6%.

''We don't expect Italy to be particularly hit within the euro zone. The impact of the economic slowdown will be fairly uniform in Euroland,'' Charles Collyns, deputy head of the IMF's research department, told ANSA.

Referring to the drastic reduction in Italy's budget deficit last year and the downward trend in national debt, he added that Italy had made notable ''progress towards consolidating its fiscal policy''.

''I don't think that what's happened in the last few weeks will damage the positive direction that Italy has taken,'' Collyns continued. IMF chief economist Simon Johnson observed that ''all uncertain political situations are a cause for concern but for us the key factors on which we base our growth forecasts are purely economic''.

International credit rating agencies recently made similar statements, saying they had no intention of changing ratings on Italian debt in the light of the resignation of Premier Romano Prodi.

He said the main factor cutting growth in Italy and Europe this year would be the falling US real estate market and the knock-on effects of the subprime mortgage crisis in European financial markets.

Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa Schioppa said last week that Italy and Europe were well placed to deal with the current turbulence on world financial markets.

But he warned that Europe was not entirely immune and acknowledged that the Italian government's growth forecast of 1.5% for 2008 would have to be scaled back.

The Bank of Italy recently predicted 1% GDP growth for this year and the Confindustria association of industrial employers has put the figure at 1.3%

Italy has second - lowest murder rate in Europe

(ANSA) - Rome, January 24 - The number of women murdered in Italy surged last year to a 20-year-high of 181, according to a survey by the Eures think tank and the ANSA news agency.

Two thirds of the 181 women slain in Italy in 2006 had close ties to their killers - fathers, husbands, partners, boyfriends - or had recently broken up with them.

In homicides of both sexes, more people were killed by their loved ones than by the mafia - 32% of the 516 murders in 2006 were committed by relatives or significant others, and 23% by the Mob.

The number of foreign victims rose by 20% while the number of foreign-born murderers rose by 31%.

Three out of four murders of foreigners were by illegal immigrants: 30% by Romanians, 23% by people from Africa and 16% by Albanians.

In six cases out of ten, foreigners killed other foreigners.

Italy is among four countries with the second-lowest murder rate in Europe, 1.0 per 100,000 inhabitants, behind Norway with 0.7.

After Denmark, Germany and Spain, which have the same rate as Italy, come Britain with 1.3, France with 1.6 and Sweden with 2.6.

The United States's rate is 5.6.

MOZAMBIQUE: Preliminary results of the Population Census 2007

The present population compared to 1997 increased of about 28%. In absolute value increased of 4,454,000 persons (about the population of Nampula province).

At provincial level, the increasing was not homogeneous. The population of the provinces of Niassa, Tete and Maputo increased between 46 and 51%. While a minor vatiation was found in Gaza (9%) and Inhambane (10%), as well as in the city of Maputo (11%).

In the case of the City of Maputo, we can see that in the last years it lost population in favor of the Province of Maputo, mainly because of the new residential areas expansion of the city of Matola and of the Districts of Boane and Marracuene.

Total population evolution, by province 1997 and 2007

Province	Population		variation
	1997	2007	1997-2007
Total	16,075,708	20,530,714	27.7
Niassa	808,572	1,178,117	45.7
Cabo Delgado	1,380,202	1,632,809	18.3
Nampula	3,063,456	4,076,642	33.1
Zambézia	3,096,400	3,892,854	25.7
Tete	1,226,008	1,832,339	49.5
Manica	1,039,463	1,418,927	36.5
Sofala	1,368,671	1,654,163	20.9
Inhambane	1,157,182	1,267,035	9.5
Gaza	1,116,903	1,219,013	9.1
Maputo Província	830,908	1,259,713	51.6
Maputo Cidade	987,943	1,099,102	11.3

source: INE Mozambique 2008