Italy’s economy expanded in the first quarter, while still leaving growth well below the euro-area average as government debt hit a record-high 2.23 trillion euros ($2.53 trillion) in March.
Gross domestic product rose 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year, Rome-based statistics agency Istat said in a preliminary report on Friday. That matched the median estimate of 18 analysts in a Bloomberg survey. GDP was up 0.5 percent in the first quarter in the euro area, according to a separate report.
