Rome, May 16 (IANS): The Bank of Italy said that the country's public debt climbed above $3 trillion in the latest reporting period.

In its latest report on Monday, the central bank said that the government's debt was 2.790 trillion euros ($3.022 trillion) in March, up from 2.762 trillion euros in the previous month, reports Xinhua news agency.

It was the third consecutive month that the country's public debt went up and it is the first time that the figure crossed the $3 trillion level.

Despite the increase in public debt, Italy's ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) has fallen since reaching an all-time high of around 155 per cent during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

The Italian economy afterwards has grown, and the debt-to-GDP ratio has declined to 144 per cent.

Nevertheless, this still makes Italy one of the most highly-indebted countries in the world.

The Bank of Italy said the main factor pushing government debt higher was an increase in the public sector's borrowing requirement, equivalent to 31.3 billion euros.