Italy’s public debt rises to €3.06 trillion in April, says Bank of Italy

Italy’s public debt grew by €30.1 billion in April compared to March, reaching €3,063.5 billion, according to the latest Bank of Italy report published today.

The increase mainly reflects the central government’s borrowing needs (+€21.5 billion), higher Treasury cash reserves (+€7.2 billion, now at €69.4 billion), and other technical factors such as bond premiums, inflation-linked securities adjustments and exchange rate effects (+€1.4 billion).

Breaking it down by subsector, the rise is almost entirely due to central government debt (+€29.9 billion). Debt levels for local governments and social security institutions remained virtually unchanged.

The average residual life of the debt stayed stable at 7.9 years. The share of debt held by the Bank of Italy continued to decline, down to 20.2% from 20.5% in March. The share held by foreign investors rose to 32.4% (up from 31.9%), while the portion owned by other domestic investors, such as households and non-financial companies, edged down to 14.3% (from 14.4%).