(Reuters) – Rating agency Fitch on Friday kept Italy’s credit rating unchanged at “BBB” with a stable outlook.
Italy’s budget deficit stood at 7.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) last year, up from 8.6% (revised) in 2022, but remains well above the government’s target for its second year in a row. The government was targeting a ratio of 5.3% in 2023.
Public debt fell to 137.3% of GDP in 2023, from 140.5% the previous year, according to statistical agency ISTAT. This is almost three percentage points below the government’s target of 140.2%.
Giorgia Meloni, the president of the Italian Council, announced that she expected a deficit of 4.3% of GDP this year.
(Reporting by Zhifan Liu, editing by Camille Raynaud)
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