Portugal’s economic indebtedness reaches 751 billion euros in February

The country’s economic indebtedness rose again in February. The non-financial sector indebtedness jumped by almost €5.4 billion to a record of 751.4 billion euros.

“In February 2021 non-financial sector indebtedness stood at €751.4 billion, of which €345.6 billion referred to the public sector and €405.8 billion to the private sector,” the Bank of Portugal (BoP) said on Thursday.

The €5.4 billion monthly jump is explained by the €4.1 billion rise in public sector debt – that month the IGCP held a syndicated 30-year debt issue worth three billion euros, which helps explain this figure – and a €1.3 billion increase in private sector debt, explained the institution.

According to the Bank of Portugal, the public sector’s indebtedness “was mainly reflected in the increase of financing granted by the financial sector (€2.4 billion) and the external sector (€2.0 billion)”.

However, “these increases were partly offset by the reduction of financing granted by the general government (€0.2 billion) and the corporations (€0.1 billion),” says the central bank.

As for the private sector, the highlight was the €1.2 billion euro in corporations’ indebtedness. This increase corresponds to “the increase in financing granted by the financial sector (€0.8 billion) and the external sector (€0.3 billion).”