Italy “strongly exposed” due to high debt levels – Bank of Italy exec

Italy’s public debt level is sustainable but keeping it very high makes Italy “strongly exposed” to tensions in financial markets and new economic shocks, a Bank of Italy official said on Tuesday.

Speaking at a parliamentary hearing, Eugenio Gaiotti, the head of the central bank’s economy and statistics department, added that public investments and reforms that help increase productivity were essential to counter the risks.

He also said that the Bank of Italy saw gross domestic product in the first quarter “more or less stable” compared with the last three months of 2020.

via Reuters