Italy's public debt increased by 31 billion euros (32.5 billion U.S. dollars) in January, raising it up to 2.1659 trillion euros, Xinhua reported referring to the country's central bank.
The newly issued figure is close to the record of 2.1677 trillion published in July 2014.
The rise is due to a 36.3-billion-euro increase in the Treasury's available liquidity, according to the central bank.
Italy's massive public debt was about 132 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP), which goes far beyond the European Commission's (EC) mandated debt-to-GDP target of 60 percent, and makes it become the second only to Greece in the eurozone.
The EC has kept Italy in the category of countries requiring "special surveillance" of budget matters, Pierre Moscovici, European commissioner for economic affairs, said in February. (1 euro = 1.05 U.S. dollars)