Italy received a vote of confidence today as Fitch Ratings said the country's debt will likely remain on a sustainable path as long as the government adheres to its fiscal targets.

The ratings agency affirmed Italy's AA-minus credit rating with a stable outlook, saying it expects the government to succeed in reducing the budget deficit as expected. It also said that, in the absence of negative shocks, the country should be able to stabilise its rating at the current level.

Fitch's comments come at a moment when markets are growing increasingly worried that Italy may be forced to request external financing, joining the ranks of Ireland, Greece and Portugal.

Those concerns drove Italian bond yields to their highest levels in more than a decade earlier this week.

"The sharp rise in Italian and other euro zone government bond yields in recent weeks reflect a crisis of market confidence in the European policy response to the euro zone debt crisis, rather than deteriorating sovereign credit fundamentals," David Riley, Fitch's head of global sovereign ratings, said in a statement.

Reuters