ROME, Sept 13: The Italian government does not expect the US subprime lending crisis to have any real effect on Italy’s economic growth or financial system, Infrastructure Minister Antonio Di Pietro said on Thursday.

Di Pietro was talking after a ministerial committee that oversees credit met at the bidding of Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa to discuss the impact of the crisis on Italy’s insurance and banking sectors.

“We heard from our institutional partners in the Bank of Italy, Consob (market watchdog) and Isvap (insurance regulator).

The US crisis will not have any real negative effect on Italian finances or the economy,” Di Pietro told reporters.

“Subprime mortgages haven’t been used by Italian banks and insurers so there will be no impact on growth. In total they represent less than one per cent of mortgages offered by Italian banks and insurers and they are amply covered,” he added.

The Bank of Italy has released initial study findings indicating that the country has no reason to be worried about exposure.

Italy has home loans worth 63 billion euros ($85.6 billion) but virtually none of them are subprime.

But while Italian insurers say their exposure to the crisis is “insignificant”, not everyone agrees Italy will be immune.

One leading Italian banker, Correda Passera who is CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo bank, said last weekend that fallout from the crisis “will certainly have an impact on economic growth” in Italy.—Reuters