Greece and Italy, among Eurozone member-states, saw their external debt actually increase in 2018, in contrast with the rest of the euro area pack, which witnessed a reduction in their debt-to-GDP ratios, according to figures released on Wednesday in Brussels by Eurostat.
Greece and Italy, among Eurozone member-states, saw their external debt actually increase in 2018, in contrast with the rest of the euro area pack, which witnessed a reduction in their debt-to-GDP ratios, according to figures released on Wednesday in Brussels by Eurostat.
Overall, the debt burden for the 19 EZ members fell to 85.1 percent of GDP, down from 87.1 percent in 2017; 80 percent from 81.7 percent for the European Union as a whole.
In thrice bailed-out Greece, despite the mammoth primary budget surplus performances posted by the hard left government in Athens, the public debt reached 181.1 percent of GDP, in unenviable first place by a wide margin from the second. The same figure for 2017 was 176 percent of GDP.
Italy is a faraway second with a debt of 132.2 percent of GDP, up from 131.4 percent the previous year.