🇮🇹 Italy
Italy uses the euro directly and runs one of the highest public-debt ratios in the euro area. There is no national currency buffer. ECB money creation lands on Italian wages and savings in full.
Debt: Eurostat, Q1 2026 Maastricht debt. 138.9% of GDP, €3,158.2bn. Source.
Purchasing power of €100
Official HICP since 2015 has cut the real value of a euro in Italian shops by about a fifth. High public debt does not protect the currency. It is still a euro, still created at the centre.
Source: Eurostat HICP snapshot, as of July 2026 (not a live feed). 2026 = Jan–Jul average.
Why this matters in Italy
No national currency buffer
Unlike Denmark, Italy has no separate currency. Monetary policy is set by the ECB in Frankfurt. Italian citizens therefore fully import whatever monetary expansion (or contraction) the euro area decides on.
High debt is not a shield
Maastricht debt was 138.9% of GDP in Q1 2026, about €3.16 trillion (Eurostat). That is a fiscal fact. It is not a shield for the currency. Euros buy less than in 2015 because more euros exist.
The same hidden tax
Whether the new money is created to buy government bonds, fund energy subsidies or defence spending, the effect on Italian wages and savings is the same: existing euros buy less over time. Wage earners and savers pay the price.
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