ROME - Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti unveiled his cabinet on Wednesday as he sets to work to restore market confidence in the country's finances and stop its debt crisis from spiralling out of control.

Officials said the new government, announced by Monti at the presidential palace in Rome, would be sworn in at 5 pm (local time).

The government has the urgent task of tackling a crisis that has pushed Italy's borrowing costs to untenable levels and brought it to the brink of economic disaster.