Italy Hiding 4% GDP Worth of Debt

``Rome's unpaid bills by local authorities and other government entities to private suppliers are estimated at about 70 billion euros, or 4 percent of GDP. Euro zone accounting rules allow governments to exclude commercial arrears from their public debt levels until they are paid. But accumulating arrears hurts the economy, and a European directive next year will force governments to recognise unpaid bills... To handle the remaining chunk, Rome has come up with an elaborate piece of financial engineering. ''