Romania’s government debt stood at the end of the third quarter of 2014 to RON 252.828 billion, or 38.1 percent of GDP ratio, almost half of the average of 86.6 percent of GDP ratio recorded at the European Union level (UE28) and 92.1 percent of GDP ratio recorded in the euro area (EA18), according to the data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union on Thursday.
Moreover, Romania recorded during July-September 2014, one of the lowest government debt in the EU. The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the third quarter of 2014 were recorded in Greece (176 percent), Italy (131.8 percent) and Portugal (131.4 percent), and the lowest in Estonia (10.5 percent), Luxembourg (22.9 percent) and Bulgaria (23.6 percent).
At the end of the third quarter of 2014, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA18) stood at 92.1 percent, compared with 92.7 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2014. In the EU28, the ratio decreased from 87.0 percent to 86.6 percent. This decrease in the EU28 government debt to GDP ratio comes after fifteen consecutive quarters of increase. Compared with the third quarter of 2013, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 91.1 percent to 92.1 percent) and the EU28 (from 85.3 percent to 86.6 percent).
At the end of the third quarter of 2014, debt securities accounted for 79.3 percent of euro area and for 81 percent of EU28 general government debt, loans for 17.9 percent and 15.3 percent respectively and currency and deposits for 2.8 percent and 3.7 percent.