Italy says it expects attack against financial market in August.

Reuters Speculators are likely to attack Italian financial markets this month, but the country has the resources to defend itself, an influential government official said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.

Giancarlo Giorgetti, undersecretary of the prime minister's office and less radical leader of the far-right League party, said that the reduced volume of negotiations during the Northern Hemisphere summer helped fuel speculative attacks.

"I expect an attack (in August)," Giorgetti told Libero.

"Markets are populated by hungry speculative funds that choose their prey and attack... In the summer, market volumes are small, you can lay the groundwork for aggressive initiatives against countries. Look at Turkey."

Turkish markets fell last week due to growing concerns about the country's economy and political leadership.

Italian assets have also been under strain in recent weeks, with investors worried that the governing coalition, formed by the League and the Five Star Movement, might disregard EU fiscal rules to fund large-scale budget plans.

"If the (market) storm arrives, we will open our umbrella. Italy is a large country and has the resources to react, thanks in part to its large amount of private savings," said Giorgetti, who is seen as a moderating force within the League.

Citing a report from the bankers' federation Fabi, Italian newspapers said on Sunday that household savings in Italy totaled 4,4 trillion euros, compared to 2,2 trillion euros in 1998.

"PLAN B"
In an interview with the newspaper Il Foglio on Saturday, Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanese, who is not a member of any political party, said that the collapse of the Turkish lira currency showed how important it is for Italy to be part of the euro.

"What is happening in Türkiye should be carefully considered by those who continue to have doubts about whether a currency like the euro is a positive thing or not," he said.

Before the national elections in March, the League called for Italy to leave the euro, but since forging its alliance with the 5-Star Movement, it has repeatedly denied any suggestion that it plans to orchestrate Italy's exit from the single currency.

Highlighting the deep divisions within the coalition on the issue, the League's chief economist Claudio Borghi, who heads the lower house's budget committee, said on Sunday that Moavero did not understand what he was talking about.

"We should be concerned about the euro, not celebrating its presumed stability," he told the newspaper La Verita, warning that the European Central Bank's plans to end its three-year stimulus program could be highly damaging to Italy.

"Either a new (market) guarantee is put in place, or we need to prepare for a plan B," he said, in an apparent reference to Italy leaving the euro. "We already have a trade surplus. The moment we have our own currency, we will have a super surplus."

Confusing messages from various government ministers and coalition officials have baffled investors and exacerbated market concerns about the coalition's economic plans. Giorgetti said there is no room for communication errors.

"My colleagues must understand that the old ruling class in Italy and Europe wants to abort this government... the EU fears that if we succeed in Italy, other countries will imitate us."