**Why Italy is not growing **
Jun 9th 2011 | from the print edition
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TWO YEARS AGO yields on sovereign debt issued by countries in the euro zone suddenly became interesting for people other than bond traders. As spreads on Irish, Portuguese and Greek treasuries over German bunds soared, handing those countries a choice between sovereign default and accepting a bail-out, Italy seemed next in line. Its gross debt-to-GDP ratio reached 119% in 2010, and its poor economic performance suggested it might find it hard to pay all those bondholders back.
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