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Debt surge daunts country

Surging national debt levels in Greece and other vulnerable eurozone countries is piling pressure on negotiators in Athens to push through rescue deals

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Debt surge daunts country

Photo: EPA/ALKIS KONSTANTINIDIS

12 Feb 2012

Surging national debt levels in Greece and other vulnerable eurozone countries is piling pressure on negotiators in Athens to push through rescue deals before the country's next major bond repayment in March.

New Eurostat figures released this week show Greek debt rising even faster than expected, hitting 159.1 percent of gross domestic product by the end of the third-quarter in 2011, confirming fears that the national debt would not be sustainable without a the major new loan and debt-cancellation agreements.

Greek debt rose to 347.2 billion euros, or 159.1 per cent of GDP, up from 138.8 per cent a year earlier.

The European Union's total government debt increased to 82.2 per cent of economic output in the third quarter of 2011, lower than the United States but still a burden that could take decades to pay down.

For the eurozone, government debt fell slightly to 87.4 per cent of GDP, compared with the 87.7 per cent level at the end of the second quarter of last year.

The 27-nation's EU's debt stood at 81.7 per cent in the second quarter, Eurostat said in the first release of such data, as the bloc steps up the monitoring of its debts and tries to prevent any recurrence of the two-year sovereign debt crisis.

Source: Athens News

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