Public accounts, Italian debt rises 1.8 per cent in second quarter

Brussels – Public accounts? Italy in full reverse. Public debt is rising, and not a little. The European Commission will present its economic forecast on November 15, but Eurostat is starting to do the calculations: between the first quarter of the year and the second, the Italian debt-to-GDP ratio increased by 1.8 per cent, reaching 137 per cent. This is the highest rate of increase in government spending after Finland (+ 2 per cent over the quarter).

By comparison, the eurozone’s debt-to-GDP ratio over the same period increased by 0.2 per cent, making the debt increase in Italy almost ten times that of the entire eurozone, where 13 out of 20 member states saw the indicator decline. Among them, the level of debt decreases in Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain.