Off the wire
• Asian Cup quarterfinal: China 0, Australia 2 - latest  • (Sports)Reigning Asian Cup champions Japan ready to quell UAE's feisty challenge  • Fighting in E. Ukraine kills 27 amid peace talks  • Urgent: Egyptian court releases Mubarak's sons pending retrial in corruption case  • Philippines eyes for centralized crime reporting system  • Major news items in leading German newspapers  • Asian Cup quarterfinal: China 0, Australia 1 - latest  • Feature:Global oil price drop brings relief for electricity consumers in Somalia  • Asian Cup quarterfinal: China 0, Australia 0 -- half time  • Iran's former vice president sentenced on corruption charges: TV  
You are here: 　 Home

Eurozone gov't debt falls slightly in Q3, 2014

Xinhua, January 22, 2015 Adjust font size:

At the end of the third quarter of 2014, the government debt-to-GDP ratio in the 18-nation eurozone fell slightly to 92.1 percent from 92.7 percent in the previous quarter, the statistical office of the EU, Eurostat, said on Thursday.

In the wider 28-member EU, the ratio decreased from 87.0 percent to 86.6 percent, which comes after 15 consecutive quarters of increase.

Compared with the third quarter of 2013, the government debt-to-GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 91.1 percent to 92.1 percent) and the EU (from 85.3 percent to 86.6 percent).

The highest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Greece (176.0 percent), Italy (131.8 percent) and Portugal (131.4 percent), and the lowest in Estonia (10.5 percent), Luxembourg (22.9 percent) and Bulgaria (23.6 percent).

According to European rules, the eurozone government debt must be maintained below 60 percent of GDP.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank is expected to announce a government bond-buying plan to fend off deflation. Endit