Spanish public debt reaches 77.4% of GDP

By LUIS MIRANDA | THE REAL AGENDA | DECEMBER 14, 2012

Government debt in Spain grew another 1.55% in the third quarter with respect to the second quarter to reach 817.164 million euros, or the equivalent to 77.4% of GDP. This is the highest level ever since the cork popped out of the crisis bottle in 2008.

According to data released by the Bank of Spain, the rise is a result of the increased debt of the central government, which has added 2.24% more to the total reached before this quarter, 695.519 million euros, and that represented 65.9% of the gross domestic product (GDP).

Meanwhile, state government debt declined by 0.48% to 167,460 million euros, or the equivalent to 15.9% of GDP, while the debt of municipalities fell 2.65%, to 43.802 million euros, which is equal to 4.1% of GDP.

Along with the release of data for the third quarter, the Bank of Spain has also updated the second to include the impact of the debt payment plan to Spanish lenders, although the changes do not affect the total amount.

Thus, at the end of the second quarter sovereign debt had grown by 14.9%, placing the burden of debt on GDP at 15.9%, the highest in history and two points over the previous quarter.

Additionally, local businesses increased their debt by 22% in the second quarter, raising the ceiling to 4.3% of its debt to GDP margin, a level that had not been seen before. When it comes to autonomous communities, Catalonia is the most indebted in absolute terms, with 45.754 million euros of debt at the end of the third quarter, followed by Valencia with 25,574,000 million and Andalusia with 18,495,000 million.

In relative terms, Castilla-La Mancha ranks first as an indebted community, with a debt equivalent to 5.7% of GDP, and is followed by Valencia (25%), Catalonia (23%) and Baleares (20.3 %). At the end of the third quarter, public companies owed 55.973 million euros or 5.3% of GDP, which means 0.81% more than in the previous quarter.

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