Greek debt up by five bln€ in 2016

Greece's public debt increased by five billion euros in 2016, reaching 326.358 billion euros, up from 321.332 billion euros at the end of 2015.

The increase is due to the fact that the 2016 budget concluded with a deficit, as a primary budget surplus recorded during the previous fiscal year was not high enough to cover interest rates slapped on the Greek debt. The latter reached 5.587 billion euros.

A ballooning of the debt is also expected in 2017, unless the primary budget surplus exceeds 3 percent of GDP for the year.