Public debt sets a new record by shooting up to 1.56 trillion euros

2023-09-29 17:20:28

Spain is more in debt than ever in its history. The debt of public administrations as a whole shot up again in the second quarter by more than 6%, 33,358 million more, reaching a historical maximum of 1,569 billion euros in absolute terms. However, despite reaching this ceiling, its weight on GDP moderated to 111.2% thanks to the strong rebound that the economy is experiencing, according to data from the Bank of Spain published this Friday.

This will allow the Government to more than meet its fiscal objectives set in the Stability Program and even advance its challenge by one year to close in 2023 with a debt below 110% of GDP, as highlighted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Thus, the forecast for the debt in 2023 was 111.9% of GDP and the year in which it was estimated that it would fall below 110% (109.1%) was in 2024. Even the Airef is more optimistic than the Government and It also improved its estimates last Thursday and now calculates that the ratio will be between 108% and 109% of GDP this year.

The ministry led by Nadia Calviño stressed that “in an international context of uncertainty, Spain maintains the confidence of investors, with solid and diversified demand.”

However, in the last year the public debt has increased by 92,551 million euros, which represents a rise of 6.3%, although its weight in the GDP has fallen from 114.5% in the second quarter of 2022 to 111.2% between April and June of this year, due to the greater increase in economic activity.

Compared to the previous quarter, the debt has increased by 33,358 million euros, which represents a rise of 2.2%, in a context still marked by the impact of the war in Ukraine and the rise in prices. However, the weight in GDP has remained at 111.2% in both quarters.

Social Security owes more than 100,000 million

Public debt increased in all administrations between the months of April and June. Thus, the debt of the Central Administration rose in the second quarter to 1,429 billion euros, 7.1% more than a year ago, which represents 100.7% of GDP, compared to 102.9% the previous year. . The Social Security debt also rose by 7% to 106,174 million, although the GDP ratio fell slightly from 7.7% a year ago to 7.5% in 2023.

For its part, the debt of the autonomous communities grew by 3.4% year-on-year, to 327,346 million euros in the second quarter, equivalent to 23.2% of GDP, compared to 24.6% last year.