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Speaking via a video link at the Teha economic forum in
Cernobbio, President Sergio Mattarella said that the cost of
servicing Rome's debt was far higher than neighbors due to
interest rates.
"And yet Italy is an honorable debtor, with a 30-year history of
annual primary government surpluses, with a public debt that has
grown to a large extent, since 1992, mainly due to interest,"
Mattarella said.
Italy's public debt, the second largest in the euro zone as a
proportion of output, is under close scrutiny by rating agencies
and currently seen by the Treasury rising to nearly 140% of GDP
through 2026.
Mattarella told the forum that Italy's debt amounted to nearly
2.9 trillion euros ($3.22 trillion) in 2023 and Rome paid
slightly less in interest than Germany and France together.
"Mind you, mine is not an invitation to neglect debt: I am fully
aware of the inescapable need to bring it down," Mattarella
said.
Italy, along with France and other countries under the EU's
Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP), will have to submit draft
budgetary plans to the European Commission to cut their deficit
and debt levels, which markets are closely watching.
The procedure obliges Italy to cut its structural budget deficit
- net of one-off factors and business cycle fluctuations - by
0.5% or 0.6% of GDP per year.
Sources told Reuters last week that in its medium-term
structural budget plan to be presented this month, the
government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni would stick to a
commitment to bring its deficit-to-GDP ratio below the EU's 3%
ceiling in 2026.
($1 = 0.8996 euros)
(Reporting by Angelo Amante; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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