Wrong to hike Italy debt further

(ANSA) - Rome, September 13 - European Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said Thursday it would be "wrong" to raise Italy's public debt from its present 133% to 140% of GDP.
    "We'd like Italy too to respect the 3% ceiling in the deficit-GDP ratio, and as for the debt I don't think it is a good thing to hike it further," he told the Italian parliament's budget committees. "The debt in Italy is 133%. And for economists it is not tolerable beyond a certain threshold. The Italian budget strategy is by the government and not by parliament, but hiking the debt to 140% is a wrong idea, I think".