Italian public debt rises to highest level
Italian public debt rose to its highest level in October.
MILAN:-Italian public debt rose to its highest level in October, breaking above the symbolic two trillion euro threshold according to figures published by the Bank of Italy on Friday.
The debt pile rose to 2.014 trillion euros ($2.64 trillion) compared with 1.995 trillion euros in September 2012, and up 3.7 percent from the figure in January, the bank said.
In October 2011, the country s public debt totalled 1.916 trillion euros.
The eurozone s third largest economy slid into recession last year amid the implementation of a series of government-imposed austerity packages and tax hikes aimed at controlling the vast debt.
Italy s budget deficit this year is expected to come in at 2.6 percent of gross domestic product, and 1.8 percent of GDP in 2013.
The country has one of the highest debt levels as a percentage of its GDP in Europe.
But Rome has benefited over the past few months from lower borrowing costs, and pulled off two successful bond auctions this week despite political uncertainty sparked by former premier Silvio Berlusconi s return to front-line politics and Prime Minister Mario Monti s decision to resign.
