PM Conte says fall in bond yields shows market confidence in Italy

[July 12, 2019]  ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Friday welcomed the recent fall in Italian government bond yields, saying it showed market confidence in the country.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is pictured before a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Rome, Italy July 4, 2019. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

Italian bond yields are at their lowest since 2016 thanks to a deal with the European Commission which averted a clash over Rome's public finances, and to expectations the ECB will retain its ultra-dovish stance under its incoming president, Christine Lagarde.

"We are hopeful that (yields) can fall further, we have the trust of markets," Conte told reporters in Milan.

In other remarks, he described frequent bickering in the ruling coalition as "normal parliamentary discussion," and dismissed the idea that the alliance of the right-wing League and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement could break up.

"Nothing is breaking up in the government," he said.

(Reporting by Giancarlo Navach, writing by Gavin Jones)

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