LISBON: Public debt across the Euro Zone as a whole fell back to 91.6 percent of GDP in the third quarter of 2015 whilst Portugal made the third largest contribution towards dragging the figure in the opposite direction, the statistics agency Eurostat reported.
The overall Euro Zone third quarter position saw debt levels fall back 0.7 percent against the 92.3 percent registered both in the previous quarter and in year-on-year terms.
In the European Union as a whole, state debt closed the third quarter on 86 percent of GDP, down from 86.9 percent in the same period of 2014 and 87.7 percent in the second quarter of 2015. In quarterly terms, debt was on the rise in three member states with Slovenia (3.3 percent), Greece (2.1 percent) and Portugal (1.9 percent).
The largest falls were registered by Ireland, (down 2.7 percent), in Italy (down 1.4 percent), Bulgaria (down 1.3 percent) and Finland (down 1.2 percent). On 130.5 percent of GDP, Portugal has the third highest ratio of public debt in the EU, behind Greece (171 percent) and Italy (134.6 percent), down 1.8 percent in year-on-year terms.
