Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said the country had finally exited from recession and was among the leading global economic powers. Berlusconi, according to local media, said Italy was doing incredible progress leading most European countries in the economic revival. He welcomed the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) positive data on Italy’s recovery. The Paris-based institute announced that Italy’s economy in September showed the strongest signs of recovery in the 30-nation group for the second month in a row. The OECD said its composite leading indicators (CLIs) for September was up 3.4 points from a year earlier, with a 10.8 percent increase. The country report demonstrated that the Italian economy was in expansion. Berlusconi praised the government’s efforts and measures undertaken in recent months to halt the economic downturn. At a press conference he said the worst of the crisis is behind us, adding that Italy was performing better than Great Britain because it had not based its economy on finance. Our economy is third in Europe and sixth in the United Nations, said Berlusconi. All things considered we cannot complain, he said.