Italy's public debt rose to 2.3 trillion euros (2.75 trillion dollars) in July, the Bank of Italy reported Friday.

Debt was up by 18.6 billion euros compared to the previous month, according to the central bank.

The tax take equaled 233.1 billion euros in the first seven months of the year, down 1.2 percent compared to the same period in 2016, the Bank of Italy said.

Italy has the highest public debt in the European Union. It stood at 134.7 percent of GDP in the first quarter of this year, down from 134.8 percent in the same period in 2016, according to EU statistics agency Eurostat.

This compares to an average debt-to-GDP ratio of 84.1 percent in the EU-28, according to Eurostat.

The country with the lowest first-quarter debt was Estonia at 9.2 percent of GDP, Eurostat said.