BRUSSELS: Government debt of the 19-country eurozone accounted for 91.6 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) for the third quarter in 2015, slightly down from the 92.3 percent for the previous quarter, official data showed on Friday.
In the wider 28-country European Union (EU), the government debt-to-GDP ratio decreased to 86 percent for the third quarter last year from 87.7 percent in the second quarter, said the EU’s statistics agency Eurostat.
Compared with the third quarter of 2014, the government debt-to-GDP ratio fell in both the euro area, from 92.3 percent to 91.6 percent, and in the EU, from 86.9 percent to 86 percent, Eurostat said.
There remains a great disparity among member states. The highest ratios of government debt-to-GDP for the third quarter of 2015 was recorded in debt-torn Greece, at 171 percent, followed by Italy and Portugal, at 134.6 percent and 130.5 percent respectively.
Estonia saw the lowest ratio in the bloc, at 9.8 percent while Luxembourg and Bulgaria followed at 21.3 percent and 26.9 percent.
Eurostat said 21 member states registered a decrease in their debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter compared with the previous quarter and seven recorded an increase.
