Eurostat has released data on public debt and deficit at the end of the third quarter of the previous year for the euro area and the EU-27. And in both statistics, the Spanish economy has not fared very well in relation to its European neighbours:
Spain ranks fourth among European countries with the highest debt-to-GDP ratio (at the end of the third quarter of last year). This is part of the ranking, from highest to lowest: Greece (165.5%), Italy (140.6%), France (111.9%), Spain (109.8%), Belgium (108.0%) and Portugal (107.5%).
While the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios were recorded in Estonia (18.2%), Bulgaria (21%), Luxembourg (25.7%), Sweden (29.7%) and Denmark (30.1%).
In the eurozone, public debt reached 12.71 trillion euros, but in relation to GDP, it accounted for 89.9 per cent. In the EU 27, public debt amounted to 13.78 trillion euros, equivalent to 82.6 per cent of GDP.
In terms of deficits, both the EU-27 and the euro area had deficits of 2.8 per cent of GDP. By country, the largest deficits in the third quarter were in Slovakia (7%), Latvia (5%), France (4.8%) and Spain (4.3%). In contrast, there were countries with surpluses, such as Portugal (2.5%), Croatia (2.2%) and Ireland (1.6%).
