Finance & economics | Buttonwood

Why Italy’s borrowing costs are surging once again

Despite all the euro zone’s crisis-proofing, Italy remains a worry

A SURE WAY to cause shudders in Italian economic-policy circles is to talk up the prospect of higher inflation. For years subdued price pressures were the rationale for the European Central Bank’s super-lax monetary-policy stance. They provided necessary cover for an array of ECB bond-buying schemes that covertly but effectively bailed out Italy’s huge public debts.

This article appeared in the Finance & economics section of the print edition under the headline “The Italian sob”

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