Oil price rise hurts Italy more than rest of EU, Fazio says Filed: 10/09/2000

Rome, Oct. 9 (Bloomberg)  Surging oil prices hurt Italy more than they do other European Union countries, Bank of Italy Governor Antonio Fazio said, warning of oil's inflation impact.

Electricity costs Italian companies 36 to 41 percent more than the average EU company, Fazio said in the text of a speech to an Italian antitrust conference. Natural gas costs are 2 to 7 percent higher, said Fazio, who is a member of the European Central Bank's governing council.

As a result, he said, "the sharp increase in oil prices is bound to produce more negative effects in our country, because of the greater relative weighting of energy bills."

Crude-oil costs have tripled since January 1999, and driven up inflation in the 11 countries sharing the euro. Italy, in particular, has seen its inflation rate nearly double in the last year, led by the rising cost of electricity, gas and gasoline.

http://www.bakersfield.com/oil/Story/233106p-224843c.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 09, 2000