ROME (Reuters) – Italy plans to sell assets valued at close to 1% of gross domestic product through 2027 to keep its fragile state finances in check, the Treasury said in its multi-year budget framework.
Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said this week the government would press ahead with a previously announced plan to sell state assets worth some 20 billion euros ($23 billion), though he added that current market turmoil due to U.S. tariff policy made it necessary to move with caution.
The Treasury’s Document of Public Finance, published late on Thursday, indicated new debt projections factored in asset sales worth 0.1% of GDP this year, 0.2% in 2026 and 0.5% in 2027.
Italy’s public debt, proportionally the second-highest in the euro zone after Greece’s, is seen at 136.6% of GDP this year from 135.3% in 2024, according to the government’s latest projections.
The debt is expected to rise to 137.6% in 2026 before edging down to 137.4% in 2027.
Since she took office in late 2022, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has put more than 4 billion euros into state coffers by selling stakes in bailed-out bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena and energy group Eni.
Among long-mooted plans to divest state assets, Italy has adopted steps to sell up to 14% of financial conglomerate Poste Italiane, a transaction that could be worth almost 3 billion euros.
The document also mentions expected property disposals amounting to more than 800 million euros each year between 2025 and 2027.
($1 = 0.8801 euros)
(Reporting by Giuseppe Fonte; Editing by Mark Potter)
