Spanish Private Debt Falls Below The 133% Set By Brussels For The First Time Since 2003

Spain housing market

While Spain’s public debt continues to increase, now accounting for 99% of GDP (1,075 billion euros), private sector debt continues to fall, and stood at 131.2% of GDP in the third quarter of 2019, a level below 133% – the European procedure for macroeconomic imbalances – for the first time since 2003.

This means that private sector debt has fallen by 74% of GDP since the peak of 2010. According to Bank of Spain data, bank debt of Spanish families amounted to 703,706 million euros at the end of 2019, a fall of 0.2% compared to the end of 2018. 70% of this debt (518 billion) corresponds to mortgage loans.

In contrast, the debt of Spanish companies rose by 0.8% in 2019, to 892,000 million euros, breaking the downward trend of previous years.

Nevertheless, the Spanish economy’s borrowing capacity was reflected in a current account surplus of 2.1% of GDP at the end of September.

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The Corner
The Corner has a team of on-the-ground reporters in capital cities ranging from New York to Beijing. Their stories are edited by the teams at the Spanish magazine Consejeros (for members of companies’ boards of directors) and at the stock market news site Consenso Del Mercado (market consensus). They have worked in economics and communication for over 25 years.