The Italian government debt is the public debt owed by the government of Italy to all public and private lenders. As of January 2014, the Italian government debt stands at €2.1 trillion (131.1% of GDP).[1] However, Italy has the lowest share of public debt held by non-residents of all eurozone countries and the country's national wealth is four times larger than its public debt.[2]The Italian public debit is in 2017 owned by the private sector only for the 6% of the total amount. This percentage decreased a lot from 1988, where this share was 57%

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In 2014, the Bank of Italy estimated that Italians held €180 billion in undeclared assets abroad, a figure that was three times as high as in 2004

In other words, without QE and low interest rates, Italy would have been in a lot more trouble when even Italian investors won't invest in Italy. The fact that Italian politicians may have squandered the benefits of low interest rates is also hardly Germany's fault, for whom that assertion merely reinforces perceptions of Italian profligacy.

So I am suggesting to you that the Euro is the wrong bogeyman. Blame if you will, and leave it if you must. We will see how Brexit works out for the UK, and they don't even have the excuse of blaming the Euro...

Index of Frank's Diaries