By Liam Moloney
Italy's cash budget deficit widened sharply in October, the
treasury said late Friday, citing preliminary figures, mainly as a
result of the country's multi-billion-euro payment to Europe's new
permanent bailout facility.
The treasury said the sector-state budget requirement, or
SSBR--a cash-based measure of the budget deficit--jumped to 13.1
billion euros ($17.0 billion) in October from EUR1.9 billion a year
earlier.
In a statement, the treasury said the deficit surge was mainly
the result of Italy making a payment of EUR5.7 billion into the
European Stability Mechanism.
The deficit was also the result of skipped revenues worth about
EUR2.8 billion from the lack of assigning radio licenses over
broadband, it said.
In the first 10 months of this year, the SSBR was about EUR58.5
billion, compared with EUR60.9 billion in the year-earlier
period.
Write to Liam Moloney at liam.moloney@dowjones.com