2  BIS Review 55/2001  It is true that on the way towards a single European capital market more work has to be done. Institutional, technical and legal barriers are hampering the process of integration. The fact that there is no single sovereign issuer, but rather 12 different government issuers, undoubtedly contributes to the certain degree of fragmentation that still exists.
Back-of-the-envelope calculations show that if Italian nominal GDP had since grown at a similar rate as in the previous ten years, the debt to GDP ratio would now be just 3 points, and not 33 points, higher than in 2007 (actually, it would be slightly below the 2007 level, once the financial support to other European countries is taken into account).