Italy should follow Germany's example if it wants to hitch a ride on the global recovery, Bank of Italy Governor Mario Draghi said Friday. Italy "must become productive and competitive like Germany" Draghi told an international banking meeting in Seoul.

"There is a global recovery and it will remain with us. The European one, which is split between North and South, is spreading to the countries which have been slower off the mark". The recovery, he said, "is being spurred by global demand and is starting to be sustained by a growth in consumer spending and investment in Germany".

But in the rest of Europe the recovery "is not sustained or balanced," said Draghi, who is also chairman of the Financial Stability Board. Overall, he said, he could only see grounds for "very cautious optimism, with an awareness of the existence of risks". The Italian economy is expected to recover by some 1% this year, according to most forecasts, a lower growth than most of its European partners, and by slightly more next year. The IMF recently upped its predicted GDP growth for Italy this year from 0.9% to 1.0% but lowered next year's forecast from 1.2% to 1.1%. The latest forecast from the Italian Treasury is for GDP to climb by 1% this year, 1.5% in 2011 and 2% in 2012.