Italy's public debt hits record high

Italy's public debt hit a record high of 1,946.083 billion euros in March, the Bank of Italy said on Monday. The previous high was registered in January, when the State was 1,934.98 billion in the red. Italy has one of the biggest national debts in the world at around 120% of GDP, a factor which has put it at the centre of the eurozone debt crisis. The figures are bad news for Premier Mario Monti, whose emergency government of non-political technocrats sought to put Italy on course to balance the budget next year with a tough austerity package of spending cuts and tax hikes in December.