Italy’s uncertain horizon whets the appetite of debt hedge funds

The month of September will be decisive for the Italian peninsula, plagued by all sorts of uncertainties following the resignation of Mario Draghi on July 21st. Which has opened a pandora’s box whose main ills relate to the rise of supporters of “Italexit”, or Italy’s exit from the European Union, to dependence on Russian gas notwithstanding an agreement of supplies with Algeria, to an unenviable economic situation. Italy represents 23% of European debt. Italy’s public debt is more than 150% of its gross domestic product (GDP) – it is 41% in Switzerland. All the ingredients are there to stir up the most speculative bets on the 2,300 billion euros of government bonds in circulation, which are much less risky than they seem.