Govt. debt in EU and euro area increases

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) At the end of the first quarter of 2015, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 92.9%, compared with 92.0% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2014. In the EU, the ratio increased from 86.9% to 88.2%. Compared with the first quarter of 2014, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 91.9% to 92.9%) and the EU (from 86.2% to 88.2%), Eurostat, the EU's statistical office reported Wednesday.

The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the first quarter of 2015 were recorded in Greece (168.8%), Italy (135.1%) and Portugal (129.6%), and the lowest in Estonia (10.5%), Luxembourg (21.6%) and Bulgaria (29.6%), it noted. (end)