Bank of Italy Governor Fabio Panetta said Wednesday that the global economic situation "is clearly better than we expected last year", according to ANSA.
Speaking at a meeting of the executive committee of Italian banking association ABI, Panetta said: "the global economy held up - we didn't see slowdowns or recessions around the world.
"I think the forecasts for the United States when we met in Washington were for growth of around 1.5%," he added.
"I think the year will end with at least 2.2% to 2.5%, so the United States has done much better".
