State debt in the entire European Union and the Euro zone has decreased as a percentage of GDP in the third quarter of 2016, showed Eurostat data.
The level of state debt in Bulgaria also marked a drop, compared to the second quarter, in spite of the fact that debt increased on an annual basis (compared to the third quarter of 2015).
Bulgaria’s debt as a percentage of GDP remains one of the lowest in the EU.
At the end of the third quarter of 2016, the debt of all 28 member-states of the EU decreased to 83.3% of GDP of the region, compared to 84.2% in the second quarter of 2016 and below the 85.9% level in the third quarter of 2015.
State debt in the Euro zone shrank to 90.1% of GDP for the same period, compared to 91.2% for the period April – June 2016 and 91.5% of GDP a year ago.
According to Eurostat, in the third quarter of 2016, the lowest level of state debt as a percentage of GDP was registered in Estonia (9.6%), followed by Luxembourg (21.5%) and Bulgaria (28.7%), while the highest levels were reported by Greece (176.9% of GDP), Portugal (133.4%) and Italy (132.7%).