Italy's public debt reached yet another all-time high in April, exceeding 2.37 trillion euros ($2.66 trillion), the country's central bank said on Monday
ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 17th June, 2019) Italy's public debt reached yet another all-time high in April, exceeding 2.37 trillion euros ($2.66 trillion), the country's central bank said on Monday.According to Italian consumer protection charity Codacons, the country's public debt per capita now exceeds 39,000 euros amid a decline in the country's GDP, trade and industry.
The European Commission officially informed Rome earlier in June that it considered its introduction of a disciplinary procedure to correct Italy's excessively high government debt justified. The Italian government has until Thursday to respond.
The so-called excessive deficit procedure is a program that aims to make EU countries compliant with the standard levels of budget deficit and public debt, which should not exceed 3 percent and 60 percent of the national GDP, respectively. If the procedure is violated by the country, sanctions in the amount of 0.2 percent of its GDP may be imposed.
In 2018, Italy's public debt-to-GDP ratio was 132.2 percent, the second largest figure in the European Union and one of the largest in the world. According to the European Commission, such a debt makes the country's economy extremely vulnerable.
In late May, European Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis stated that Italy was the slowest growing economy in the European Union. The commission then slashed the country's GDP growth forecast to just 0.1 percent for 2019 and 0.7 percent for 2020.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte last week expressed confidence that Rome and Brussels would be able to find a solution to the debt problem without resorting to legal means.
