A round-up of public finance stories from around Europe you might have missed this week (April 15–19)

Italy may need $9.2bn of spending cuts, official says

Italy may need to make as much as €7bn ($9.2bn) in additional spending cuts this year to cover jobless benefits and other expenses, said finance under-secretary Gianfranco Polillo (Bloomberg Businessweek).

Russia to keep budget deficit rule despite recession threat

Despite falling commodity prices, the Kremlin will stick to its fiscal rule which caps the budget deficit at 1% of GDP, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told the State Duma in his annual economic address (RT.com).

Portugal finds spending cuts to keep bailout on course

The Portuguese government has approved around €800m (£685m) of new spending cuts to put its European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout back on track after some of its austerity plan was thrown out by the constitutional court (Reuters).

Hungary expects exit from EU monitoring without measures

Hungary’s government expects to exit the European Union’s monitoring process for budget offenders without further fiscal measures as a return to growth and favourable risk perception allow a cut in budget reserves (Bloomberg).

French ministers declare assets in online audit

France's 37 government ministers, along with Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, have published a list of their assets and their values on a special government website (Deutsche Welle, Germany).