Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday called for ethnical business conduct saying it is important to give people hope in the current economic crisis.The pope made the comments at the end of a general audience attended by members of the Italian farmers' association Coldiretti.
He encouraged Coldiretti "to continue in your commitment to social and spiritual service to the world of agriculture".
Coldiretti is holding its national congress in the Italian capital, Rome, from 9 to 11 September, entitled 'Ethics and the economy today'.
Benedict said he hoped Coldiretti's congress "may be a stimulus for you to reaffirm ethical principles in the economy, so as to reanimate hope through solidarity".
The congress was opened with a mass celebrated by Vatican secretary of state Tarcisio Bertone.
Meanwhile, Italy's main private employer group, Confindustria, forecast unemployment in the country would reach 8.3 percent this year and hit 9.5 percent in 2010.
Confindustria predicted 557,000 jobs would be lost in 2009 and a further 120,000 in 2010.
Italy's trade balance slumped in June registering a 631 million euro deficit after a 1.15 billion euro surplus in May, the national statistics office ISTAT said last Friday.
Italian industrial output fell by a worse than expected 1.2 percent in June from May and by 19.7 percent compared with a year earlier, ISTAT said last month.
The conservative Italian government in July cut its 2009 GDP growth forecast to -5.2 percent.
The Italian economy contracted by 1.0 percent in 2008.
Banks and other financial sectors have been accused of greedy and irresponsible behaviour that triggered the current global recession.
Benedict devoted a recent encyclical, Caritas In Veritate (Charity in truth) to economics in which he said economic imperatives must take second place to charity and "integral human development."
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SIC: AKI