Italy economy minister says public debt will start falling this year

ROME - Italy's economy minister said the country's public debt would start falling this year as a share of domestic output after the central bank warned earlier this week the government may fail to meet this goal. Pier Carlo Padoan said privatisation revenues would help Italy cut the 2.2 trillion-euro (2 trillion pounds) debt despite the fact that too low inflation failed to boost nominal growth. "Real gross domestic product is doing its part. Based on current figures we're at least at 1 percent but I believe it can go much higher," Padoan said. "It's inflation that doesn't budge ...But privatisations go on ... public debt will fall this year." Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco warned on Tuesday that Italy's public debt may not fall this year as targeted. He called for a "careful monitoring of public finances and the implementation of a programme of privatisations" to "approach" the debt-to-GDP ratio target of 132.4 percent this year and ensure the debt comes down significantly in 2017. -Reuters