Italian public debt exceeds 3,200 billion euros for the first time. In June 2026, public administration debt reached 3,207.247 billion, a new high in the Bank of Italy series. In May they were 3,181.063 billion: in a single month the increase is therefore 26.2 billion.
The comparison with a year earlier makes the size of the movement even more evident. In June 2025 the debt amounted to 3,071.367 billion: over the course of twelve months it therefore grew by approximately 135.9 billion euros. Since the end of 2025, when it stood at 3,095.888 billion, the increase is instead greater than 111 billion.
The numbers are contained in the new report “Public finance: needs and debt – June 2026” by the Bank of Italy, published today, 14 August. The debt figure is calculated according to the European criteria used for the so-called Maastricht debt, therefore it includes coins and deposits, securities and loans and is expressed at face value.
Record public debt: why it increased by 26.2 billion
The most immediate number is the passage from 3,181.1 to 3,207.2 billion, but to understand what happened we must distinguish between debt and needs.
In June the public administrations’ needs amounted to 13.259 billion euros. In the same month, however, the Treasury’s liquid assets increased from 51.928 to 61.704 billion, therefore by approximately 9.8 billion.
The remaining difference, equal to approximately 3.1 billion, derives by calculation from the other factors that the Bank of Italy includes in the change in debt: discounts and premiums on issuance and repayment, revaluation of inflation-indexed securities and changes in exchange rates. The Bank of Italy itself clarifies, in fact, that needs and changes in debt do not necessarily coincide.
In other words, the increase of 26.2 billion does not mean that the state recorded a deficit of 26.2 billion in the same month.
BTPs and government bonds: medium-long term debt is growing above all
Another particularly interesting data for those who invest in government bonds concerns the composition by maturity.
In June, debt with original medium and long-term maturities rose to 2,842.673 billion, from 2,801.604 billion in May: over 41 billion more in a month. On the contrary, short-term debt drops from 379.460 to 364.575 billion.
It is precisely in the medium-long term that an important part of the securities used by the Treasury to finance debt, including BTPs, fall.
The maturity structure remains, however, relatively long: the average residual life of the debt is equal to 7.9 years, unchanged compared to May. Debt with a residual life of more than five years rises to approximately 1,590.6 billion.
A high average duration is important because it prevents the entire stock from having to be refinanced quickly at the rates present in the market at a given time.
It is above all the central administrations that increase the debt
The June increase comes almost entirely from central administrations.
Their consolidated debt goes from approximately 3,100.9 billion to 3,127.8 billion, with an increase close to 26.9 billion. The debt of local administrations instead drops from 80.033 to 79.319 billion.
This detail is also useful for reading the data correctly: the new record does not derive from a generalized increase in indebtedness at all levels of public administration.
Btp-Bund spread at 78 points, 10-year yield at 3.94%
The exceeding of the 3,200 billion mark comes on a morning in which the Italian government bond market does not show any extreme movements.
At 10.41am on August 14, the spread between ten-year German BTPs and Bunds was moving around 78 basis points. The yield on the 10-year BTP was 3.94%, against 3.16% on the German Bund.
At the opening, the differential was equal to 76.6 points and the yield on the Italian ten-year bond was 3.91%.
QuiFinanza had already detected on August 13th a BTP-Bund spread of around 78 points and a ten-year yield of 3.94%, so in the first part of the morning no discontinuity emerged that could automatically be attributed to the new data on the debt.
And it is an important step: a monthly debt record does not mechanically determine an increase in the spread.
Investors simultaneously evaluate economic growth, the performance of public finances, inflation, the ECB’s monetary policy, the quantity of securities to be placed and the State’s ability to refinance itself on the market.
What changes for those who own or want to buy BTPs
For the saver, the Bankitalia data must therefore be read together with the returns.
When the yield required by the market on BTPs increases, new securities can become more profitable, while the prices of securities already in circulation tend to be pressured in the opposite direction. Those who bring the BTP to maturity and regularly receive coupons and capital must, however, distinguish this market fluctuation from the expected return at the time of purchase.
To check prices, maturities and yields of individual instruments, you can consult the QuiFinanza section dedicated to updated BTP and BOT quotes.
The level of the spread, however, remains above all a thermometer of the additional premium required by investors to hold Italian debt compared to German debt. A persistent increase in it may translate into higher refinancing costs for the State over time; a reduction instead signals a smaller distance compared to the German benchmark.
Because the 3,200 billion quota alone does not explain the sustainability of the debt
The exceeding of 3,200 billion has a strong symbolic value, but the nominal value of the debt is not enough in itself to judge the sustainability of the public finances.
To evaluate it you need to compare the debt to the size of the economy, consider the deficit, the average cost of interest, GDP growth and the maturity structure.
However, the Bank of Italy report tells us one precise thing: in June the debt continues to grow and establishes a new high, while the medium-long term portion increases significantly. At the same time, at least on the morning of August 14, the market continues to price BTPs with a spread around 78 basis points and a ten-year yield close to 3.94%.
This is the double picture to follow in the coming months: on the one hand an increasingly higher stock of debt, on the other a market which for now is not automatically translating that record into a surge in Italy’s risk.
