Bulgaria ranks second in the EU in terms of lowest state debt

Bulgaria ranked among the best performers in the EU in terms of lowest state debt. According to the official data of the European Statistical Office EUROSTAT, for the third quarter of the year, Bulgaria's debt reached 15% of GDP, or BGN 11.37 bn, which ranks us second among EU member-states. Only Estonia is ahead of Bulgaria - it has a 6.3% debt, or a mere €953 mln. Let us remind our readers that last year's budget projected for the maximum amount of public debt not to exceed BGN 14.3 bn or 18.6 % of GDP. This year, the GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria) government forecast that state liabilities should not exceed 19% of GDP. Even if we maintaining a large debt, our country will remain among the least indebted EU member-states. EUROSTAT experts reported that the top three performers include Luxembourg, whose debt is 18.5%. Furthermore, Bulgaria ranked among the seven EU member-states which reported a decline in their public debt, while the remaining 20 registered an increase. Bulgaria ranked third in terms of the debt decrease and our debt was reduced by 0.9%. Only Luxembourg and Sweden managed to reduce their public debt by over 1%.

Greece, Portugal and Ireland recorded the largest increase in their state debt at the end of the third quarter of 2011, compared to the same period a year earlier, according to EUROSTAT data. From early 2011 until the end of September, the state debt of Greece - the most indebted EU country - reached €347 bn, or 159.1% of GDP. Despite the imposition of large-scale austerity measures, the Greek economy is obviously failing to tackle the debt crisis. Italy, in turn, ranked second in the EU with a debt of 119.6%, or €1.884 trln. Portugal's public debt stood at 106.5% of GDP, while that of Ireland amounted to 104.9% of GDP. These three countries are being pointed out by analysts as the next victims of the debt crisis and their bankruptcy should not be ruled out. Belgium, France, the UK, Hungary, Germany and Austria are also among the top ten performers.