Pacific Investment Management Co.’s Bill Gross said Italy remains in trouble even as a new government is being formed to put austerity measures in place.

Italy and neighboring countries have “too much debt and too little growth,” Gross, manager of the world’s biggest bond fund, said in a radio interview on “Bloomberg Surveillance” with Tom Keene from Pimco’s headquarters in Newport Beach, California.

Italy sold 3 billion euros ($4 billion) of five-year bonds today, the maximum target, at the highest yield in more than 14 years as Mario Monti seeks to form a new government to restore investor confidence in public finances. The Rome-based Treasury sold the bonds to yield 6.29 percent, the highest since June 1997 and up from 5.32 percent at the last auction on Oct. 13. Demand was 1.47 times the amount on offer, compared with 1.34 times last month.

Recession could be deep in Europe, Pimco Chief Executive Officer Mohamed El-Erian said during the interview.