MADRID: According to a Eurostat report on the Spain just fell behind just Cyprus for the highest deficit by percentage of GDP, with a deficit of about €61.4 billion, or 5.8 percent GDP. Cyprus reported a deficit of 8.8 percent of GDP, or about €1.5 billion. Both the United Kingdom and Croatia came after Spain for highest deficits, each amounting to 5.7 percent of GDP.
Spain’s overall debt reached more than €1 trillion last year – nearly 98 percent of GDP. Spain’s debt was not the highest by percentage of GDP, with Greece, Italy, Portugal, Ireland, Cyprus and Belgium all reporting debts of over 100 percent of GDP.
A deficit is the amount a government spends more than its income within any given financial year, while debt is the total amount a government owes over time. Throughout the euro area, government deficit fell overall from 2.9 percent to 2.4 percent of GDP or about €246 billion, while EU member state deficits fell from 3.2 percent to 2.9 percent of GDP or about €402 billion in 2014.
