Portuguese public debt increased in March to 126.4% of GDP

  • ECO News
  • 22 May 2018

Portuguese public debt according to Maastricht, the definition that matters to Brussels, reached 126.4% of GDP in March, according to data from the Bank of Portugal.

Portuguese public debt according to Maastricht, the definition that matters to Brussels, reached 126.4% of GDP in March, according to data from the Bank of Portugal. However, the number for public administrations’ debt in March is smaller than what was registered in the same month of 2017, when it stood at 130.1% of GDP.

According to the Statistical Bulletin of the Bank of Portugal, disclosed this Tuesday, public debt in absolute terms reached 245.9 billion euros in March. This number stands below the amounts registered in February (246 billion euros) and above the number registered in the end of 2017 (242.6 billion euros).

According to the Stability Programme presented in April, the Portuguese Government estimated that public debt will decrease to 122.2% this year.

In March of 2017, public debt in absolute terms was smaller (243.4 billion euros) than what was registered last March.

As for public debt net of central government deposits according to Maastricht, it stood at 114.7% of GDP in March (both below 115.4% in December of 2017 and 118.3% in March of 2017). The absolute number was 223.2 billion euros.

The historic maximum of the weight of public debt on GDP was reached in September of 2016, when it stood at 132.8%.