Italy's fragile economic recovery faltered in the second quarter of the year when gross domestic product remained unchanged from the previous three months, preliminary official data showed.
The halt in economic growth owed to a contraction in the industrial sector which offset an expansion in the agriculture and service sectors, national statistics agency Istat said.
The second-quarter GDP data compared to a 0.3 percent expansion in January-March and 0.2 percent in the last quarter of 2015, Istat said.
Italian GDP grew 0.7 percent from the same period last year, said Istat.
The data are notably worse than for the UK, US and France, which all posted quarterly and year-on-year growth and come as bad news for Italy's premier Matteo Renzi who was banking on growth of 1.2 percent this year.
In a further blow to Italy's economy, the public debt increased by 70 billion euros from May to hit a record 2.248 trillion euros in June, the central bank said on Friday.
Joblessness remains above 11 percent and unexpectedly increased in June. Industrial production posted its sharpest decline in almost two years in the second quarter, Istat said last week.
Italy exited a three-year-long recession - its longest on record - in the first quarter of last year but only managed a feeble 0.6 percent economic expansion in 2015.
