Italy’s judiciary has opened an inquiry into the Treasury’s use of derivatives to hedge public debt after reports that the state faced potential losses of billions of euros on contracts restructured during the eurozone debt crisis last year.

意大利司法部已开始对财政部利用衍生品对冲公共债务风险一事展开调查。此前有报道称，意大利可能会因去年在欧债危机时重组的衍生品合约而亏损数十亿欧元。

Nello Rossi, Rome’s deputy prosecutor, told the Financial Times that he would meet the Treasury, the Bank of Italy and state auditors but stressed it was not a criminal investigation. The inquiry was prompted after a Treasury report was leaked to the FT and Italian daily La Repubblica detailing the restructuring of eight derivatives contracts in 2012.

罗马副检察长尼洛•罗西(Nello Rossi)对英国《金融时报》表示，他将约见财政部、意大利央行(Bank of Italy)和国家审计部门的官员，但强调这次调查并非刑事调查。调查的起因是一份被透露给英国《金融时报》和意大利日报《共和国报》(La Repubblica)的财政部报告，它详细记载了2012年8份衍生品合约的重组情况。

Experts who examined the data concluded that Italy risked a potential loss on the contracts, based on market prices last week, of about €8bn on a total notional value of €31.7bn. Last year Italy said it had a derivatives portfolio of €160bn, about 10 per cent of state bonds in circulation.

这些合约名义价值合计317亿欧元。相关专家研究过报告数据之后得出结论：以上周市价计算，意大利在这些合约上可能蒙受约80亿欧元的损失。去年，意大利表示拥有1600亿欧元的衍生品组合，所对冲的国债占流通中国债的约10%。

Mr Rossi’s inquiry is being assisted by the finance police who requested information on derivatives contracts from the Treasury’s debt management office at the request of the Corte dei Conti, the state auditors.

罗西发起的调查得到了金融警察的支援。应国家审计机构意大利国家审计院(Corte dei Conti)的要求，金融警察要求财政部债务管理部门提供有关上述衍生品合约的资料。

Politicians said the probe was likely to hit a wall of secrecy surrounding Italy’s €2tn of public debt, with the Treasury citing commercial confidentiality over its derivatives contracts.

政界人士表示，这次调查可能仍然无法完全揭开意大利2万亿欧元国债的神秘面纱，因为财政部表示其衍生品合约属于商业秘密。

“The state of Italy’s finances are like the formula for Coca-Cola. It is a secret,” said Renato Brunetta, spokesman for the centre-right People of Liberty, which formed a coalition government with prime minister Enrico Letta’s centre-left Democrats in April. “There is total opacity in the finance ministry.”

中右翼自由人民党(People of Liberty)发言人雷纳托•布鲁内塔(Renato Brunetta)表示：“意大利的财政状况就像是可口可乐(Coca-Cola)的配方。那是一个秘密。财政部的情况完全不透明。”今年4月，自由人民党与总理恩里科•莱塔(Enrico Letta)领导的中左翼意大利民主党组建了联合政府。

Earlier yesterday, the finance ministry dismissed as “absolutely groundless” reports quoting unnamed officials that Italy had used derivatives in the late 1990s to “window dress” its accounts through upfront payments by foreign banks to meet financial criteria set by the EU for it to enter the euro.

此前有报道引述一些未具名的意大利官员称，上世纪90年代末，意大利为了满足欧盟(EU)为其加入欧元区设定的财政门槛，从外资银行获取预付款项以“美化”自己的账目。昨天早些时候，意大利财政部表示，这些报道属于“无稽之谈”。

The ministry said its use of derivatives posed no risk to public finances. It did not dispute the reported figures.

财政部表示，其使用衍生品合约的做法未对公共财政构成风险。但它未对报道中的数字提出异议。