Portugal’s public debt rises 4.9 billion in July

Public debt, as seen from the Maastricht point of view, rose by 4,911 million euros in July to 264,665 million euros, the highest ever value of public debt stock. The previous record had been reached in May at 264,379 million euros. The figures were released this Tuesday by the Bank of Portugal.

In the second quarter, the public debt ratio, i.e. the stock relative to the size of the economy, had risen to 127.1% of GDP in a period when GDP fell by 16.3%. The public debt ratio had closed 2019 at 117.7% of GDP.

The rise in public debt is explained by the issuance of long-term bonds, which rose from 149.7 billion euros in June to 155.1 billion euros in July, up by 5.4 billion euros in one month. The stock of short-term securities fell slightly, from 12.4 billion euros in June to 11.6 billion euros in July.

The data from the Bank of Portugal also show that general government deposits increased by 2.4 billion euros, to 19.3 billion euros. Thus, the public debt net of deposits increased by 2.5 billion euros compared to the previous month, totalling 245.4 billion euros.