Public debt surpasses the 250 billion euros psychological threshold
Public debt has already surpassed 250 billion euros. In August, in spite on the early payment to the IMF, Portugal's public debt has increased again.
In August, public debt has surpassed the 250 billion euros psychological threshold, standing 388 million euros above. These data were published this Monday by the Bank of Portugal.
The 1.3 billion euros increase in comparison to the previous month means the Portuguese debt according to Maastricht — the reference definition for the European rules and a key indicator for the markets — stands above the psychological threshold of 250 billion euros.
“This change reflects net issues of securities of €2.4 billion and a decrease in loans of €1.2 billion, chiefly due to the early repayment of IMF loans (€0.8 billion)”, the Portuguese central bank, headed by Carlos Costa, explains.
As for the public debt net of central government deposits, there has been an improvement in comparison to July: it stood at 228.4 billion euros, a 1.7 billion euros decrease in comparison to the previous month.
With amount of debt registered in August, the public debt goal stands further away. In this year’s second notification from the EDP (Excessive Deficit Procedure), the Finance ministry committed to a nominal value of 244.1 billion euros for the Portuguese public debt in the end of 2017. This number was even revised downwards from the April amount (the first EDP notification) and it should correspond to a 127.7% of GDP ratio, the Government stated. However, for now, June’s data reveal a 132.1% of GDP ratio – far from the goal.
