Cut pension costs says IMF (3)

(ANSA) - New York, March 19 - Italian pension spending remains high and there are "areas" where it could be cut, an International Monetary Fund working paper said Monday. Pension spending is still high despite reforms including the controversial Fornero law in 2011, which kept Italy on the international fiscal rails, said the paper by Michael Andrle, Shafik Hebous, Alvar Kangur and Mehdi Raissi entitled 'Italy: toward a growth-friendly fiscal reform'.
    The study said there were "many areas" where Italy could act to bring down pension spending and cut the budget deficit and public debt, the second-biggest in the eurozone after Greece's.
    Populist parties that won the recent Italian general election have vowed to scrap the Fornero reform in moves that would raise pension spending, experts say.