Public debt reduced by EUR 300 million

Public debt reduced by EUR 300 million

The preliminary data suggest that the public debt of around EUR 25.2 billion at the end of 2015 fell to 24.9 billion at the end of March 2016.

The Fiscal Council states that the relatively small fiscal deficit in the first quarter has reduced the need for new borrowing and only due debts have been refinanced since the beginning of 2016, but it also observes that the debt has been reduced thanks to the recent weakening of the U.S. dollar.

According to the Finance Ministry's methodology, by the end of March, the public debt fell by a huge four percentage points, from 77.3 percent of GDP at the end of 2015 to around 73.5 percent at the end of March 2016.

However, when public debt is placed against current GDP, we see that its reduction in the reporting period was significantly lower, something that better corresponds to reality - from 77.3 per cent of GDP in December to about 76 percent of GDP in March this year, said the Fiscal Council.