ECB bond-buying plan to boost Italian growth - Bank of Italy

ROME (Reuters) - The European Central Bank's bond-buying programme will lift Italian growth over the next two years, making it easier for the government to make badly-needed economic reforms, an Italian central bank official said on Tuesday. "The action decided last week by the ECB governing council will contribute significantly to raising growth over the next two years, offering more room to marry reform and growth," Bank of Italy Deputy Director General Fabio Panetta said at a conference in Rome. Italy's biggest employers' group, Confindustria, said on Saturday the ECB plan could raise Italian gross domestic product by 0.8 percent this year and by a further 1 percent in 2016 by weakening the euro exchange rate, thus boosting exports, and by lowering long-term interest rates. Italy has been the euro zone's most sluggish economy over the last decade and has not posted a single quarter of growth since the middle of 2011. Panetta also said there was a "pressing" need to find a systemic solution for bad loans held by Italian banks. Economy Minister Pier Carlo Padoan has acknowledged the need to create a sort of "bad bank" for non-performing loans, but has yet to make any concrete proposals. (Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte; writing by Steve Scherer, editing by Isla Binnie)