Italian government wants to avoid raising VAT

The Mario Monti-led government \"will do everything to avoid\" raising the VAT rate again, Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli said Monday. Grilli, who spoke in Luxembourg outside a meeting of eurozone finance ministers, said he was \"quite confident\" that Premier Monti\'s government will be able to avoid increasing value-added tax. VAT was raised earlier this year to 21% from its previous level of 20% to help deal with Italy\'s public-debt problems. An additional 2% increase was planned for October in the government\'s Save Italy austerity package introduced at the end of 2011, but Monti\'s administration subsequently said this would be delayed because of money raised by public spending cuts.