THE NEW LIRA: COSMETIC OR CURRENCY?
The new Italian lira, which will be worth 1,000 of the old, is due
to appear next year. It is intended to make accounting easier and to
reduce domestic inflation. Will it be more than a symbolic gesture?
That depends on the supporting policies. If government spending is
curtailed, the immense public sector deficit reduced and monetary growth
brought into line with a steady rate of economic growth, the new lira
may help.
It will be a fairly large unit, worth about $0.65, 0.43 [pound
sterling], DM1.46 and Ffr4.66. This means taht it will have to be
divided, as it was between the wars, into hundredths, or centesimi. Each
of these will replace the 10-lira piece, a coin seldom seen nowadays,
and good for nothing but to throw into the Trevi Fountain. The sight of
one centesimo...
