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The Eurozone (EA17) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland. The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).
At the end of the third quarter of 2012, the government debt to
GDP ratio2 in the Eurozone (EA17) stood at 90.0%, compared with 89.9% at
the end of the second quarter of 2012. In the EU273 the ratio was 85.1%,
compared with 85.0%. Compared with the third quarter of 2011, the government
debt to GDP ratio rose in both the Eurozone (from 86.8% to 90.0%) and the
EU27 (from 81.5% to 85.1%). These data were released today by
Eurostat, the statistics office of the European Union.
At the end of the third quarter of 2012, securities other than
shares accounted for 78.9% of Eurozone and for 80.4% of EU27
general government debt. Loans made up 18.3% of Eurozone and 15.8% of
EU27 government debt. Currency and deposits represented 2.8% of Eurozone
and 3.8% of EU27 government debt.
Due to the involvement of EU governments in financial assistance
to certain Member States, and in order to obtain a more complete picture of the
evolution of government debt, quarterly data on intergovernmental lending (IGL)
are also published. The share of IGL in GDP at the end of the third quarter of
2012 amounts to 1.7% for the Eurozone and to 1.3% for EU27.
Government debt at the end of the third quarter 2012 by Member
State - - The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of
the third quarter of 2012 were recorded in Greece (152.6%), Italy
(127.3%), Portugal (120.3%) and Ireland (117.0%), and the lowest
in Estonia (9.6%), Bulgaria (18.7%) and Luxembourg (20.9%).
Compared with the second quarter of 2012, fifteen Member States
registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third
quarter of 2012, eleven a decrease and one Member State registered no change.
The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Ireland (+5.9
percentage points - pp), Greece (+3.4 pp) and Portugal (+2.9 pp),
and the largest decreases in Latvia (-2.6 pp), Malta (-2.5 pp) and
Austria (-1.3 pp).
Compared with the third quarter of 2011, twenty-two Member
States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third
quarter of 2012, and five a decrease. The highest increases in the ratio were
recorded in Cyprus (+17.5 pp), Ireland (+13.4 pp) and Spain
(+10.7 pp), and the largest decreases in Greece (-11.1 pp), Hungary
(-4.8 pp) and Latvia (-3.6 pp).
