Slow revenue collections of Italy’s largest securitisation vehicle do not necessary mean an acute risk of default, but they cast doubt on Italy’s ability to perform as a heavy borrower.

The Italian government will use every means during the meeting with investors today to confirm that the restructuring of the SCIP2 securities, planned for this month, will not leave them with empty hands.

Italy has gained Ђ35bn in these securitisation deals, holding the leadership among European countries. Italy also tries to keep this business within the European Union’s rules according to which its member countries’ deficit ceiling is to be within 3 % of gross domestic product.

This year, Italy’s goal is to raise Ђ4bn-Ђ5bn through further sales of future government revenues.

The SCIP2 securitisation vehicle was established in 2002 in order to operate the sale of bonds supported by future revenues from the transfer of state-owned residential facilities to tenants.

However, the sales turned out to be slower to take off than the issuer had expected, producing demand of quick revenue injection.

The decision of the government was to delay the disposal of the state-owned properties, the special purpose vehicle, supported by state assets, to replace the current bonds with long-term paper.

Commenting on this point, the economy ministry official said: “This is a way of putting these transactions back on track without affecting the Republic of Italy’s creditworthiness.”