Italy public debt increases by around €12 billion

In August, Italian general government debt increased by e11.9 billion compared to the previous month, reaching €2,962.5 billion, as disclosed by the Bank of Italy on Tuesday.

The increase is due to the increase in Treasury liquidity by €19.8 billion to €65.2 billion and to the overall effect of discounts and premiums at issue and repayment, the revaluation of inflation-linked securities and the change in exchange rates of €200 million, partially offset by the cash surplus of €8.0 billion.

With reference to the breakdown by subsectors, the increase in debt is attributable to that of central government, which increased by €12.1 billion; that of local government and social security institutions remained substantially unchanged.

The average residual life remained stable at 7.8 years.

The share of debt held by the Bank of Italy decreased slightly to 22.7% from 22.9% in the previous month; in July, the last month for which this data is available, the share held by non-residents increased slightly to 29.4% from 29.3% in June, while the share held by other residents - mainly households and non-financial businesses - remained stable at 14.4%.

In August, tax revenues recorded in the State budget amounted to EUR62.4 billion, up 13% or €7.4 billion compared to the same month of 2023. In the first eight months of the year, tax revenues amounted to €371.7 billion, up 5.5% or €19.2 billion compared to the same period of last year.

Compared to the data published on 16 September, general government debt has been revised upwards by €2.5 billion in 2020, by €4.6 billion in 2021, by €4.7 billion in 2022 and by €5.0 billion in 2023.

In addition to the effects of the general revision and the ordinary update of sources, the new estimates reflect in particular a methodological change, agreed at European level, in the accounting of deferred interest on European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) loans to Greece.