Bank of Italy: debt rises again in February, to 2872 billion

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Public debt rises again in February after the decline in January. According to data from Bank of Italy it increased by 22.9 billion compared to the previous month, amounting to 2,872.4 billion. The increase is due to the requirement (14.1 billion) and the increase in the Treasury’s liquid assets (8.6 billion, to 42.8); the overall effect of discounts and premiums on issuance and redemption, the revaluation of inflation-indexed securities and the change in exchange rates (0.3 billion) also contributed.

With reference to breakdown by subsectors, the increase is almost entirely attributable to central administrations; the debt of local administrations and that of social security institutions have in fact remained substantially unchanged. The average residual life was 7.9 years, as in the previous month.

At the end of February the share of debt held by the Bank of Italy decreased slightly to 24.0 percent; in January (last month for which this data is available) that held by non-residents was equal to 27.9 percent (from 27.6 in the previous month), while that held by other residents (mainly families and non-financial businesses ) was equal to 13.5 percent (from 13.4 in the previous month).

Revenue grows by 13.2%

In February, tax revenues accounted for in the state budget amounted to 39.4 billion, an increase of 13.2 percent (4.6 billion) compared to the same month of 2023. In the first two months of the year, tax revenues were amounted to 85.9 billion, an increase of 8.7 percent (6.9 billion) compared to the same period last year.