Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 4 July 2019

Public Accounts Committee

2017 Annual Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General
Chapter 21 - Accounts of the National Treasury Management Agency
National Treasury Management Agency Financial Statements 2018

9:00 am

Mr. Conor O'Kelly:

It is. I am pointing to Italy as a risk that investors are talking about in the context of the debt markets and the cost of debt. My final slide compares Italy with Germany. The Deputy can see where the cost of debt spiked in early 2018 due to investors changing their perception of Italy as a creditor. Italy's growth is slowing and its debt-to-GDP ratio has started to rise towards 130%, which is higher than our ratio. Its banks own 20% of sovereign debt, its growth is slowing, its debt-to-GDP ratio is rising and the investors are suddenly charging it much more money for debt. That kind of environment can come about quite quickly.

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