Economy Minister Pier Carlo
Padoan said Wednesday that Italy will start making major cuts to
its massive public debt soon.
"We expect a decisive fall in the public debt in the near
future," Padoan told CNBC.
He said this would come about thanks to higher growth in
nominal gross domestic product.
A European Commission spokesperson said Wednesday that Italy
must act on bringing down its massive public debt.
"Italy is seeing its recovery strengthen, but it is faced
with persistent challenges in the light of its high debt level,"
the spokesperson said when asked about the apparent differences
in the positions on Italy of Economic Affairs Commissioner
Pierre Moscovici and Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen.
The Commission is pressuring Italy to do more to improve its
public finances and is expected to send Rome a letter asking for
clarification regarding the 2018 budget law.
"Yesterday the commissioners had a political discussion about
the eurozone countries' budget plans, including Italy's and its
respect of the debt rule... but the decisions will be taken next
week," the spokesperson said.
Italy's public debt rose to 2.2837 trillion euros in
September, an increase of 4.4 billion with respect to August,
the Bank of Italy said on Wednesday.
In August the debt had dropped by 21.3 billion euros.
The central bank said September's increase was due to an
increase in the public sector borrowing requirement of 16.5
billion, which was compensated in part by lower Treasury
liquidity.
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