Confindustria slashes 2012 Italian growth forecast

ROME Dec 15 (Reuters) - The main employers' lobby Confindustria on Thursday slashed its 2012 growth forecast for Italy to -1.6 percent from +0.2 percent, warning that even that estimate was optimistic and based on a gradual easing of the euro zone debt crisis.

Italy is already in recession, began shrinking on a quarter-on-quarter basis in the third quarter of this year, and will emerge only in the third quarter of 2013, the employers' federation said. The country will grow slowly in 2013, by 0.6 percent, Confindustria predicted.

Growth forecasts for both 2012 and 2013 are "optimistic" and based on Italian bond yields falling below 5 percent by April, according to the group's latest revision of its forecasts. Yields on benchmark 10-year bonds are currently over 7 percent.

Prime Minister Mario Monti's 33-billion-euro austerity package will weigh on growth, but is necessary to prevent the country sliding into a default, Confindustria said.