Italy's debt soared, GDP shrank in 2012

Italy's debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 127 percent in 2012, the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) said on Friday, adding that its real gross domestic product (GDP) has dropped below its 2001 level. Italian public debt rose to 127 percent of GDP in 2012 from 120.8 percent the year before, said the ISTAT, adding that its economy contracted 2.4 percent year on year, local media reports said. Local media blamed the decline on Monti's austerity measures which were considered to have hampered the country's economic reboot. The outcome of the Italian parliamentary election in which neither center-left Pier Luigi Bersani nor center-right Silvio Berlusconi could obtain a governing majority in the parliament, has rocked global markets, producing more political uncertainties in the recession-hit country.