The Btp Valore, the government bond designed exclusively for small Italian savers, brings the share of Italian debt in the investment portfolio of families in our country to new records. In December the value of government bonds held by retail investors rose to a new high since the introduction of the euro. This is what emerges from the data published by the Bank of Italy in the monthly report “Public finance, needs and debt”. The report shows how in the month in question the value stood at 324.752 billion, an increase compared to the 321.300 billion of the previous month.
Based on calculations carried out by Reuters on Via Nazionale data, the share in the hands of families and non-financial businesses of the total in circulation is equal to 13.7% from 13.5% in November. The trend expresses the rush towards Italian debt securities launched in recent years, from BTP Valore, to BTP Italia and BTP Futura. Also having an impact is the rate hike by the ECB which has brought the yield now paid by government bonds back up.
If Italians have rekindled their passion for BTPs and BOTs, the interest of foreign investors is waning. In fact, from the Bank of Italy document it emerges that in the last month of 2023 the value of the portfolio of Italian government bonds held by foreign entities fell with a value that stood at 652.691 billion compared to 659.151 billion in the previous month. In this case, the share fell to 27.4% from 27.7% in November.
Bank of Italy also reports that in January the public administration debt fell to 2,848.712 billion compared to 2,862.809 billion in the previous month.
“The decrease (14.1 billion) compared to the value of December 2023 reflects the decline in the Treasury’s liquid assets (15.7 billion, to 34.2) and the effect of the spreads and premiums on issuance and redemption, of the revaluation of securities indexed to inflation and the change in exchange rates which overall reduced the debt by 1.3 billion, partially offset by the requirement (2.9 billion)” reports Via Nazionale.
In January, tax revenues accounted for in the state budget amounted to 46.5 billion, an increase of 5.1%, or 2.3 billion, compared to the corresponding month of 2023.