Public debt falls to 2.24 tn in Feb (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, April 14 - Italy's public debt fell to 2,24 trillion euros in February, the Bank of Italy said Friday.
    It was a 10. 7-billion-euro-drop compared to February, the central bank said. Italy's public debt, at more than 133% of GDP, is the second-largest in GDP terms the eurozone after Greece's.
    Italy's per capita GDP is 4.5% lower than the EU average and lower than Germany's by 23.6% and France's by 9.2%, ISTAT said. But it is is 5% higher than Spain's, the statistics office said. Successive governments have been trying to boost growth and have tried to steer the EU away from austerity policies and towards expansive policies. The present government, of Premier Paolo Gentiloni, has passed several budget measures aimed at stoking growth.