Italy has never won favor among the European authorities with a good credit history. To make things worse, the epidemic-driven crisis is going to swell its enormous public debt. Long before the coronavirus outbreak, Italy was the most leveraged country among 27 members of the euro block. From now on, Italy will have to run up heavier debt to tackle the fallout. The cabinet has already drawn up the draft of budget amendments and submitted it to the parliament. The lawmakers decided to zoom up a budget deficit to 10.4% of the total gross domestic product for 2020. This situation is beyond acceptance of the EU rules. Under the EU guidelines, the upper limit of a budget deficit is set at 3%. So, the only solution for Rome is to apply to the ECB for a new bailout. Meanwhile, Italy’s national debt has ballooned to nearly 134.8% of the GDP, thus exceeding 60%, the threshold prescribed by the EU. In fact, Italy has suffered the novel coronavirus the most among the European countries in terms of a death toll and epidemic rates. In this context, the country will be barred from foreign holidaymakers until the end of the year.
