Italian public debt rises in January

The Italian public debt was up 20.5 billion euros (28.4 billion U.S. dollars) in January since the end of 2013, the country's central bank said on Friday. Italy's National debt rose to 2.08 trillion euros in January, according to the central bank. The country's public debt was about 132 percent of its Gross Domestic Product. On Thursday, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said his government will respect budget commitments, hours after the European Central Bank remarked that Italy had not made "tangible progress" on hitting the budget-deficit target. The European Commission has recently said it was "monitoring" Italy over its "excessive macroeconomic imbalances." The Italian economy returned to a slight expansion in the fourth quarter of 2013 after a negative growth of more than two years. Earlier this week, Renzi unveiled an ambitious package of reforms to relaunch competitiveness and fight unemployment, including tax reductions on businesses and low earners, cuts of public expenditure, simplified labor market rules and investments in public schools.