Most German economists oppose Italy's exit from eurozone: survey

A large majority of surveyed German economists oppose exit of Italy from the eurozone, German research institute Ifo reported on Monday.


According to the latest results of the Economists Panel jointly conducted by the Ifo Institute and the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 61 percent of surveyed economists are against an exit, while 29 percent are in favor.

Around 52 percent of the surveyed economists fear that an exit by Italy could negatively impact the eurozone's stability, while around 23 percent believe its impact could even be "very negative."

Some 57 percent of surveyed economists believe that Italy is unlikely to exit, while 14 percent think that it is "very unlikely" to do so.

Only 20 percent believe that Italy is "likely" to leave the single currency bloc, while 6 percent assessed this outcome as "very likely", according to the results of the panel, participated by 100 German economics professors.

"Italy's exit would be the beginning of the end of the eurozone," warned Niklas Potrafke, director of the Ifo Center for Public Finance and Political Economy.
  [Xinhua/china]
20/12/16