Italy’s borrowing rates skyrocket for 2nd day
By COLLEEN BARRY, AP Business Writer – 6 hours ago
MILAN (AP) — Italy’s borrowing rates skyrocketed at a bond auction Monday for the second straight business day, as pressure mounted on the eurozone’s third-largest economy to come up with quick reforms to keep the euro from breaking up.
The interest rate Italy had to pay to get investors to part with their cash for 12 years soared to 7.20 percent, a full 2.7 percentage points higher than the last similar auction.
In the auction, Italy raised euro567 million ($750 million). While there were enough bids to cover the maximum sought of euro750 million ($1 billion), the high borrowing rates persuaded the Italian Treasury to stick closer to the lower end of its planned issuance range.
Premier Mario Monti is under enormous pressure to convince markets that his new technocratic government has a strategy to get a grip on its debt of euro1.9 trillion ($2.5 trillion) and balance the budget by 2013
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