Italy would be in recession until 2017 without QE says Visco

(ANSA) - Rome, April 7 - Italy would still be in recession if it were not for the European Central Bank's quantitative easing (QE) programme and the downturn would have lasted until next year, Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said Thursday.
    "The Italian recession would not have finished until 2017 without the measures taken by the ECB between June 2014 and December 2015," Visco said in Frankfurt, referring to Bank of Italy estimates. Italy's GDP rose by 0.8% in 2015 after three years of negative growth. The general adoption of several contract renewals signed in Italy lately "would significantly lower the rate of growth of wages, and that would be reflected in turn on the dynamics of inflation," Visco added.
   The European Central Bank does not currently have 'helcopter money' on its agenda but "no instruments" should ever be ruled out a priori, Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said in Frankfurt Thursday. Helicopter money is when a central bank distributes money directly to operators in the real economy.