Big debt reduction soon - Padoan

(ANSA) - Rome, November 15 - 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.