Word: lira
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...investors have bid up the price of the mark about 7% against an average of all major currencies. Compared with the currencies of the most economically troubled European nations, the mark's rise has been striking. So far this year, it has climbed 19.6% against the sinking Italian lira and 13% against the British pound, which last week slipped below $1.80 for the first time. Moreover, with Germany's strong recovery all but assured, any further economic disruptions in Europe this year will probably kick the value of the mark even higher...
...election, the edgy Communist leaders moved cautiously last week. They practically ignored new developments in their natural campaign issue: the economy. While other West Europeans were beginning to enjoy the passing, at long last, of a stubborn recession (see ECONOMY & BUSINESS), Italians had new gloomy statistics to ponder. The lira dropped to an alltime low of 920 to the dollar, despite heavy intervention by the Bank of Italy, which spent a reported $1 billion to shore it up in March and April alone. Mean while, the balance of trade deficit, it was also announced, increased by $1.5 billion...
...filling up. Even the two countries with sick currencies, Britain and Italy, are deriving some benefits. Tourists are pouring into Britain to snap up bargains: a South American lawyer recently bought 2,000 lightweight suits from Marks & Spencer in London. Italian exporters are taking advantage of a cheap lira to post remarkable increases in foreign sales of clothing, appliances and machine tools...
...thus set for the most critical election Italy has faced in 30 years, one that would not only absorb 35 million Italian voters but also be closely watched throughout Europe and in much of the rest of the world as well. The same issues that toppled Moro-the weakened lira, rising inflation, unemployment and scandal-will be refought in the campaign. But the overwhelming issue facing the country is quite clear: Whether Italian voters, with their country's traditional center-left politics at a point of impasse, are prepared finally to allow the Communists to share national power...
...Christian Democrats (DC) have proved increasingly incapable of governing Italy. The past few years have seen an endless succession of collapsing cabinets; in the face of waves of strikes and political violence, the DC has been unable to enact badly needed social reforms. The lira has fallen drastically and economic growth has come to a standstill. DC rule has been marked by widespread corruption and scandal. The recent charge that party leaders accepted payoffs from the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation is a stellar example. Furthermore, their conservative position on social issues has become increasingly unpopular with the electorate, sixty percent...