European Commission: Percent and Debt Levels

european commission: Italy's debt levels last year reached the equivalent of nearly 133-percent of the country's gross domestic product GDP . That is the second highest level in the 28-nation European Union only after Greece and well above the 60-percent limit for members of the euro zone, according to Global Times China. With a budget deficit this year forecast to be at least 2.8 percent of the country's GDP and the economy expected to grow no more than 0.2 percent, debt is forecast to rise to 135 percent of GDP by the end of this year. Commissioner Pierre Moscovici this week said that the European Commission stands ready to take into account any new elements Italy may put forward, but we cannot waste time. In his remarks, Moscovici said that while the commission was willing to be flexible on fiscal rules where there is a justification, that nobody should be in doubts that we will apply the rules if criteria are not fulfilled. Other countries have faced infraction procedures in the past, including Italy, and that is where things stand for Italy at this point, Giampaolo Galli, an economist and vice-director of the Italian Observatory of Public Accounts, a watchdog group, said in an interview. Among the rules could be fines of up to 3.5 billion euros 3.9 billion US dollars . Analysts told Xinhua that if that happens, Italy will become the first European Union member state to be fined for debt levels. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.