Italian Prime Minister to resign as euro takes a hit

IT is an ill-wind that blows some good as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has confirmed that he will resign today (December 5) after a heavy loss in the referendum in which he had hoped to be able to change the Italian constitution to give one of the two ruling houses more power than the other, thus streamlining decision making in the country.

As reported in the finance pages of issue 1639 of Euro Weekly News it was becoming apparent as the vote got nearer that a high percentage of Italians were likely to cast a protest vote against the government generally to try to shake things up.

With nearly 60 per cent of the counted votes being against the change in the constitution, Prime Minister Renzi has accepted defeat although fears that this may open the door for the MS5 left wing grouping, which is broadly anti EU, to seize power may be a long way from reality.

The good thing for expatriates based in Spain that has emerged from this is that the failure of the government and the likely negative knock on effect on a number of Italy’s ailing banks has meant that the euro has suffered against the dollar and the pound.

For those readers who depend upon regular transfers of sterling from the UK, the EWN website now shows live exchange rates supplied by Currencies Direct.