Italy's DMO says debt sustainable, average yields lower: press

Italy's public debt is sustainable and the average yields paid on new government paper issued so far this year are lower than in 2011, the head of Italy's Debt Management Office said in a newspaper interview on Wednesday.

"In the first nine months of the year, in which we placed around 80 percent of planned issuance, the average cost of issuing debt has been 2.4 percent," Maria Cannata told Corriere della Sera.

She said that compared with 3.61 percent in 2011 and 4.09 percent in 2008.

(Reporting By Silvia Aloisi)