ROME - Carlo Cottarelli, the Italian economist and former International Monetary Fund director who earned the nickname of "Mr Scissors" following his extreme public spending cuts, is set to be a key figure in Italy's latest political crisis. 

 Cottarelli, 64, graduated from the University of Siena with a degree in Economics and Banking, and then completed a master’s degree at the London School of Economics in Economics and has always closely followed Italian affairs. 

 He worked for the Bank of Italy from 1981 to 1987, for ENI from 1987 to 1988, and for the International Monetary Fund, in Washington DC, where he held prominent positions in various different departments and remained until 2013.

 He is largely known for his efforts to cut public spending costs when he worked as the former commissioner for the review of public spending, aka “the spending review”, for which he was appointed by Enrico Letta in 2013. The bill of possible cuts reached a staggering 32 billion, with a focus on the public utilities and administrations.

 In November 2014, Cottarelli returned to the IMF when the Renzi government appointed him as executive director on the board.

 Cottarelli has shown no sign of slowing down, and since 2017 has worked as Director of the Observatory on the Italian Public Accounts of the Catholic University of Milan.

He has also published various books commenting on the state of the Italian economy and the necessary measures that ought to be taken. The latest of which is titled “The Seven Deadly Sins of the Italian Economy,” and focuses on the factors that could slow down Italy’s economic recovery, such as corruption and tax evasion.

 Cottarelli recently encouraged the need to "reduce public debt," declaring that if not "we will remain slaves of the markets." He has posited himself firmly against Italy’s exit from the European Union and the euro, saying that it would be a “mistake” to leave and ought to be “avoided in every way.” 

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