LISBON: Portugal had the third highest deficit in the European Union (EU) in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2015 (4.4%) and the second highest public debt (129%), Eurostat said.
The EU statistics office said that the 4.4% deficit in Portugal was the third highest after Greece (7.5%) and Spain (5.1%). The other three countries with deficits of over 3% of GDP were the UK (4.3%), France (5.1%) and Croatia (3.3%). In terms of public debt, Italy had the highest ratio (177.4% of GDP), followed by Portugal (129%), Cyprus (107.5%) and Belgium (105.8%).
Portugal and Spain are under the excessive deficit procedure and run the risk of having structural and investment funds suspended, even though the fines have been suspended.
