Italy's public debt tops US$3 trillion for the first time

ROME: Italy's public debt climbed above US$3 trillion in the latest reporting period, reported Xinhua, according to data released Monday.

The Bank of Italy said that the government's debt was EUR2.790 trillion (US$3.022 trillion) in March, up from EUR2.762 trillion (US$2.992 trillion) in the previous month.

It was the third consecutive month that the country's public debt went up and it is the first time that the figure crossed the US$3 trillion dollars level.

Despite the increase in public debt, Italy's ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) has fallen since reaching an all-time high of around 155 per cent of GDP during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. The Italian economy afterwards has grown, and the debt-to-GDP ratio has declined to 144 per cent.

Nevertheless, this still makes Italy one of the most highly-indebted countries in the world.

The Bank of Italy said the main factor pushing government debt higher was an increase in the public sector's borrowing requirement, equivalent to EUR31.3 billion (US$33.9 billion).

--BERNAMA-XINHUA