The central bank says the government has borrowed over $3 trillion.
Italy’s public debt grew by almost €5 billion ($5.6 billion) in the first five months of the year and hit a new high in May, according to figures released by the Bank of Italy this week.
Figures show that the government’s debt hit €2.816 trillion ($3.1 trillion) in May, after passing €2.800 trillion in April. The regulator said this is a €4.8 billion ($5.3 billion) rise from the previous month.
“Another record in history! This is a big problem for our country because interest rates keep increasing, which means that the public debt that Italians pay with their taxes is getting bigger. This is a disaster for our country,” said Massimiliano Dona, President of the National Union of Italian Consumers (UNC).
Italy has more debt than any other Eurozone country except Greece. It is also one of the most indebted countries in the world.
The head of UNC says that the amount of money the government owes equals €47,862 ($53,729) per person or about €107,500 ($120,667) per family.
“Taxes can’t be cut as long as the state debt is out of hand. We need to change how it is set up by helping low-income families and raising windfall taxes,” Dona said.
During the worst Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, Italy’s debt-to-GDP ratio hit a new all-time high of about 155%. Since then, the Italian economy has improved, but in the last quarter of 2022, the number was still one of the highest in the EU, at 144%.
