The Italian economy has performed very poorly in the aftermath of the 2008-09 global financial crisis. This has reflected a combination of factors, some of them pertaining to the overall Euro-area crisis, some of them Italy-specific. Now Italy seems to be emerging from the crisis, although the recovery is still tentative. Why has Italy
suffered so much from the 2008-09 crisis? Has its economic outlook now really improved? And how will policies and developments in the rest of the European Union affect Italy?
Carlo Cottarelli , a citizen of Italy, has been IMF Executive Director for Italy, Albania, Greece, Malta, Portugal and San Marino since November 2014.
He was Commissioner for Public Spending Reform in Italy from October 2013 to October 2014.
After receiving degrees in economics from the University of Siena and the London School of Economics, he joined the Research Department of the Bank of Italy where he worked from 1981 to 1987 in the Monetary and Financial Sector Division. After working for about one year as head of the Economic Research Department of ENI (the main Italian energy company), Mr. Cottarelli joined the IMF in 1988, working for the European Department, the Monetary and Capital Markets Department , the Policy Development and Review Department and the Fiscal Affairs Department. He was Deputy Director both in the European Department and the Strategy, Policy and Review Department , and Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department between November 2008 and October 2013.
While at the IMF, Mr. Cottarelli worked on several advanced , emerging market, and low• income countries in the context of surveillance , IMF-supported programs, and technical assistance, including Albania, Croatia, Hungary , Lebanon, Russia, Serbia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Italy, and the United Kingdom. As Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department, he was responsible for the development of the Fiscal Monitor, one of the three IMF flagship publications. He has written several papers on fiscal and monetary policies and institutions , and edited books on fiscal policy, inflation, monetary policy, and exchange rates.
