ROME, April 11 (Xinhua) -- The center left's narrow win in Italian elections prompted financial and economic observers abroad to wonder whether the country might be heading into a period of instability, Italian media said on Tuesday.

    Attention was focused on the ability of a center-left government to govern effectively when the country was so deeply divided and when it only had a small majority in the upper house of parliament.

    "There is a risk that crucial reforms will not be carried out," said Brian Coulton, who is responsible for Italy at the Fitch international credit rating agency, according to Italian News Agency ANSA.

    He said a new Italian government needed to cut spending, especially if taxes were to be slashed as both political blocs promised before elections.

    Last June, Fitch lowered its outlook for Italy from "stable" to "negative", pointing to low growth prospects and problems in public accounts.

    The American ratings agency Standard & Poor's agreed: "The new government will have to adopt urgent and concrete measures to efficiently deal with a crisis in Italy's public accounts."

    S&P warned that the rating on Italy's long-term debt risks being lowered before the end of the year unless the new administration took quick action to cut public debt.

    Analysts in the foreign media also questioned whether economic reforms would be carried out.

    The Milan bourse posted losses in the first part of Tuesday as the center left's narrow majority emerged. But analysts pointed out that most of Europe's stock markets also performed badly.

    Italy's association of self-employed workers said that Prodi had "every right" to try to govern with his majority. But it begged him to keep the interests of the economy in mind and to seek help from the center right if necessary.

    Meanwhile, the center left insisted that it was perfectly able to govern and stressed that it intended to do everything possible to heal the split in the country revealed by the election.

    "We have a solid majority in both the lower House and the Senate," said Democratic Left leader Piero Fassino, who heads the biggest party in the center-left alliance. Enditem