Italy's public debt increased by 7 billion euros to hit 2.192 trillion euros in September, the Bank of Italy said Friday as data from the central statistics agency showed a slowdown in economic growth.
Italy has the eurozone's second-biggest public debt after Greece's and the government plans to cut it to 131.4 percent of gross domestic product next year, down from 132.8 percent in 2015.
Meanwhile, the Italian government’s target of a 0.9 percent expansion of the Italian economy on Friday looked hard to meet after lacklustre third quarter GDP data issued by issued by national statistics office Istat.
Italy’s GDP expanded 0.2 percent in September, against 0.4 percent in the first quarter and 0.3 percent in the second, according to preliminary Istat data.
The euro region’s third-biggest economy needs to grow between 0.8 percent and 0.9 percent in the final quarter of the year to reach the annual GDP target set by premier Matteo Renzi in his budget plan, according to calculations by Bloomberg News.
