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Public debt at €19,1 bn

22/01/2016 15:01
Public debt reached €19,1 bn or 109.6% of GDP in the third quarter of 2015, according to data released today by Eurostat.

In the second quarter of 2015 the public debt amounted to €19,2 bn or 110.4% of GDP while in the third quarter of 2014 it stood at € 18,4 bn or 105.5% of GDP.

Based on the figures, the public debt to GDP ratio in the euro area fell to 91.6%, in the third quarter of 2015 versus 92.3% in the second quarter of 2015 and 92.3% in the third quarter of 2014.

In the EU, public debt stood at 86% of GDP from 87.7% in the second quarter of 2015 and 86.9% in the corresponding quarter last year.

The largest public debt rates as a percentage of GDP were recorded in Greece (171%), Italy (134.6%) and Portugal (130.5%) and the lowest were recorded in Estonia (9.8%), Luxembourg (21.3%) and Bulgaria (26.9%).

Ireland recorded the largest debt reduction in relation to the third quarter of 2014 which amounted to 13.2 percentage points, followed by Greece with a decrease of 6.6 percentage points.

In total, public debt declined in 15 member states while an increase was recorded in 13 member states.

The highest debt increase was recorded in Slovenia, followed by Austria and Cyprus.

On a quarterly basis, Ireland recorded the biggest drop in its dept and Slovenia the highest increase.

Deficit

Eurostat has also released data on the budget deficit of the euro area and EU as a whole for the third quarter of 2015.

The budget deficit in the eurozone fell to 1.8% of GDP from 2.2% in the second quarter and 2.7% in the third quarter of 2014.

In the EU, the budget deficit fell to 2.3% of GDP from 2.6% in the second quarter and 3.1% in the third quarter of 2014.