Cyprus recorded the highest decrease (-5,1 percentage points) in the ratio of public debt during the third quarter of 2014, compared to the second quarter. As a result, public debt stood at 104,7% of GDP during the third quarter, compared to 109,8% of GDP during the second quarter.
According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, at the end of the third quarter of 2014, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA18) stood at 92.1%, compared with 92.7% at the end of the second quarter of 2014. In the EU28, the ratio decreased from 87.0% to 86.6%. This decrease in the EU28 government debt to GDP ratio comes after fifteen consecutive quarters of increase.
The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the third quarter of 2014 were recorded in Greece (176.0%), Italy (131.8%) and Portugal (131.4%), and the lowest in Estonia (10.5%), Luxembourg (22.9%) and Bulgaria (23.6%).
Compared with the second quarter of 2014, eighteen Member States registered a decrease in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2014, nine an increase and Estonia no change.
The highest decreases in the ratio were recorded in Cyprus (-5.1 percentage points – pp), Malta (-2.7 pp) and Hungary (-2.6 pp), and the highest increases in Bulgaria (+3.1 pp), Portugal (+1.9 pp) and Denmark (+1.6 pp).
CNA/EK/MM/2015
ENDS, CYPRUS NEWS AGENCY