3rd UPDATE:Italy Banks In EUR1.6 Billion Cheap Loans To Lift Tourism
June 03 2009 - 12:20PM
Dow Jones News
Italian banks including Intesa Sanpaolo SpA (ISP.MI) and
UniCredit SpA (UCG.MI) will provide EUR1.6 billion in cheap loans
to help lift the tourism industry, Premier Silvio Berlusconi said
Wednesday.
The plan, which also includes Banco Popolare (BP.MI), Banca
Popolare di Milano (PMI.MI) and Banca Popolare di Sondrio
(BPSO.MI), aims to make it easier for companies operating in
tourism to secure credit, Berlusconi said.
The prime minister said the government wants to nearly double
the contribution tourism makes to Italian national output -
currently around 10% of gross domestic product - in the next four
years. He said tourism accounts for 18% of Spain's GDP.
The tourism industry contracted around 5% in 2008 as the global
economic downturn hit travel to Italy's cultural and natural sites.
The sharp slowdown in the world economy is expected to lead the
Italian economy as a whole to contract by about 5% in 2009, marking
the worst recession since the Second World War.
Some 14,000 bank branches across Italy will provide low-interest
loans of up to EUR2 million for tourism buildings which need to be
renovated or rebuilt, the premier said in presenting the plan with
bank and tourist officials.
Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit said they would take part in the
scheme by putting forward EUR600 million and EUR500 million
respectively for small- and medium-sized companies operating in
tourism that want to develop their business. Banco Popolare said it
would contribute with EUR200 million.
Berlusconi told a press conference with his new tourism
minister, Michela Vittoria Brambilla, that he was proud of Italy's
banking system and reiterated that the country's banks are the most
solid in Europe.
The EUR1.6 billion in easier credit is available immediately so
that companies can take advantage of the summer season that has
just started, Brambilla said.
-By Luca Di Leo, Dow Jones Newswires; +39 06 697 66921;
luca.dileo@dowjones.com
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