Berlusconi: there is no crisis in Italy

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Friday he had rejected an offer of funds from the International Monetary Fund, but welcomed its help in monitoring his government's' reform plans and national accounts.

He took care not to criticize the single currency itself but lamented that the exchange rate at which Italy's lira was converted into the euro in late 1998 had impoverished some segments of Italian society. "You don't get much in your supermarket trolley for EUR80 today, whereas you used to get a lot for 80,000 lire," he said.

But he insisted that Italy's economy was broadly prospering. "The restaurants and vacation spots are always full, nobody thinks there is a crisis," he said.

He added that, considering its low household debt levels, Italy had the second-most solid economy in Europe, after Germany and was stronger than France or the U.K, the Wall Street Journal reports.