The sovereign debt of Italy continues to rise, increasing by €17.8 billion ($19.3 billion) month over month in March to reach a record high of €2.79 trillion ($3 trillion), according to the nation’s central bank. Previously the all-time record had been hit in February, when the debt level reached €2.78 trillion.
On Monday, the Bank of Italy said that the increase was attributable to a jump in the public sector’s borrowing requirement of €31.3 billion ($34 billion), which had been partially counteracted by a reduction in the Treasury’s liquid assets to €29.4 billion.
Massimiliano Dona, president of the National Consumer Union said, “New historic record! A worrying and alarming exponential rise given the rate hikes due to the ECB’s new restrictive monetary policy.”
Dona went on to note that if each citizen were held accountable for an equal portion of the debt, each would owe €47,405 per citizen, or €106,446 per household.
Dona went on to warn, “Now planning to reduce taxes for everyone with the flat tax means either making fun of the Italians, recovering what you give with the rates with deductions and charges, or getting the country into trouble. For this reason, the government would do well, for the moment, to limit itself to limiting electricity and gas bills, restoring discounts on system charges in the bill.”
As the nation’s energy prices have soared, the cost of living crisis has expanded in the EU’s third-largest economy. That has driven up the levels of public debt, which added up to 144 percent of GDP between October and December 2022, according to the latest Eurostat data.
Italian officials have attacked the European Central Bank (ECB) over the monetary policy it has implemented, noting that the rate hikes aimed at reining in inflation have only placed even more pressure on Europe’s most indebted nations.
Once again last week, the ECB raised interest rates, increasing them to 3.25 percent, as the regulator seeks to try and contain the double digit inflation that is running roughshod across the Eurozone.
