ATHENS: Government debt in the euro area surged to the highest levels since the introduction of the single currency, underscoring the challenges still confronting the 19-nation bloc as it wrestles with Greece over new aid payments.
Greece’s debt pile swelled to a new high of 177.1 percent of gross domestic product at the end of 2014, up from 175 percent a year earlier, the European Union’s statistics office in Luxembourg said today. For the euro zone as a whole, government debt rose to a record 91.9 percent of GDP last year from 90.9 percent in 2013.
The figures give added impetus to European leaders’ demands that Greece revamp its economy before receiving further bailout support. While progress will to be reviewed on April 24 when ministers from the currency bloc meet in Riga, Latvia, European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said in an interview in Washington that creditors might need to wait until mid-May to see what Greece can deliver.