Greece sees highest state debt/GDP ratio in eurozone

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Greece's general government-debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 175 percent in the second quarter of this year, by far the highest in the eurozone, according to a Eurostat report on Wednesday.

The Greek government's gross debt stock amounted to around €309 billion ($339 billion) at the end of second quarter of 2017, down from nearly €315 billion ($345 billion) over the same period last year.

Eurostat figures revealed the main component of the country's general government debt stock was loans, accounting for 139.8 percent of GDP, followed by debt securities (31.8 percent).

After the 2008 global financial crisis, Greece witnessed a deep economic depression and the country's unemployment rate increased for six consecutive years to hit 27.5 percent in 2013. Last year, the unemployment rate fell to 23.6 percent from 24.9 percent in 2015.

Over the past three years, the Greek economy recorded negative growth -- 2016 last year (minus 0.2 percent) and 2015 (minus 0.3 percent) while it grew only 0.7 percent in 2014. The country has made several economic bailout deals with international creditors since 2010.

In the same period, Greece was followed by Italy and Portugal with debt-to-GDP ratios of 134.7 and 132.1 percent, respectively. The Italian government's general debt stock was €2.28 trillion ($2.5 trillion) while Portugal's debt was €249 billion ($274 billion).

The government-debt-to-GDP ratio in the euro area (EA19) stood at 89.1 percent -- marking a 1.7 percentage point fall on a yearly basis -- while overall EA19 government gross debt stock was €9.75 trillion ($10.72 trillion).

Official data also showed the total government debt stock of the whole European Union (EU28) was €12.5 trillion ($13.75 trillion) at the end of the second quarter, with an 83.4 percent debt/GDP ratio -- a yearly decrease of 0.4 percentage point.