Greece’s public debt totaled 177.4% of GDP in the third quarter of 2017, up 1.3% compared with the second quarter of the year, but down 0.5% in comparison with the third quarter of 2016, Eurostat said on Wednesday Jan. 24 2018.
In a report released here, the EU executive’s statistics agency said that loans accounted for 143.5% of the country’s total debt. In absolute numbers, the Greek debt rose to 313.5 billion euros in the third quarter from 309.1 billion in the second quarter and 311.3 billion euros in the third quarter 2016.
In the Eurozone, the public debt/GDP ratio was 88.1 pct in the third quarter from 89 pct in the second quarter, while in the EU 28, the public debt fell to 82.5 pct of GDP from 83.3 pct over the same period, respectively.
Greece recorded the highest public debt in the EU, followed by Italy (134.1 pct of GDP) and Portugal (130.8 pct), while Estonia (8.9 pct), Luxembourg (23.4 pct) and Bulgaria (25.6 pct) recorded the lowest debt ratios.
