Investors Can't Ignore Italy's Debt Arithmetic Forever

Investors can’t ignore debt arithmetic forever, according to research by Bloomberg Economics. The International Monetary Fund may have Italy’s public debt stock falling from this year, but that’s only on the assumption that the country will quickly attain a primary budget surplus of 3.6 percent of output, more than double what it was in 2017. BE’s forecast for Italy’s public finances is much less rosy, and that’s before the expensive spending plans a populist government is likely to introduce.