Foreign funds coming back to Italy’s debt

Bloomberg

Italy is attracting foreign investors to buy its bonds as the new government’s more conciliatory stance towards the European Union on budget issues should reduce the country’s risk premium further, the head of the country’s debt agency said.
Speaking at a conference in Milan, Davide Iacovoni said the nation “is no longer under the radar of international investors as a potential source of risk like last year,” when the previous administration clashed with the EU over populist election promises and faced the threat of penalties.
“There’s been a strong recovery in foreign investors’ holdings of Italy’s stock of debt since January, and with July data we’re now back to end-of-2017 levels,” Iacovoni said. The share of foreign holders of Italy’s debt rose to 30.3% in July from 28.8% in May, according to Bank of Italy data.
Still, Iacovoni, who leads the management of Italy’s 2.46 trillion euros ($2.74 trillion) of debt, said the figure is “sustainable but still a risk factor and needs to be seriously put on a downward trend.”
The official echoed comments by Finance Minister to EU’s request for clarification about the nation’s 2020 budget plan.