PARIS (MNI) – Total government debt in the Eurozone rose by E175
billion in 2Q to E8.517 trillion, boosting its share of GDP to 90.0%
from 88.2% in 1Q, Eurostat said Wednesday.
Compared to 2Q 2011, government debt was up nearly E390 billion.
At that time, the debt-GDP ratio stood at 87.1% – already well above the
theoretical Maastricht ceiling of 60%.
The breakdown of 2Q debt showed currency and deposits of E234.1
billion or 2.8% of GDP, securities other than shares of E6.695 trillion
or 78.6% of GDP, and loans of E1.588 trillion or 18.6% of GDP.
Inter-government lending related to the debt crisis amounted to E155.9
billion or 1.6% of GDP.
Debt-GDP ratios across countries in 2Q ranged from lows of 7.3% in
Estonia and 20.9% in Luxembourg to highs of 111.5% in Ireland, 117.5% in
Portugal, 126.1% in Italy and 150.3% in Greece.
Only Luxembourg managed to stabilize its debt ratio in 2Q, as the
small increase in debt was in line with GDP growth. The biggest
quarterly increases were in Portugal (+5.6 percentage points), Cyprus
(+8.3 pp) and Greece (+13.4 pp).
On Monday, Eurostat revised up slightly full-year results for 2011,
giving a debt ratio of 87.3% (87.2%) and a level of E8.228 trillion
(E8.215 trillion).
Last spring, the European Commission projected a rise in the
Eurozone debt ratio to 91.8% this year and to 92.6% in 2013, assuming a
GDP contraction of 0.3% on average this year and a recovery of 1.0% next
year.
–Paris newsroom +331 4271 5540; Email: ssandelius@mni-news.com.
[TOPICS: M$X$$$,MGX$$$,MAXDS$]
