Cyprus debt at 110% of GDP in Q3 2013

Cyprus public debt saw the biggest increase among the 28 EU member states in the third quarter of 2013, amounting to 109.6% of GDP from 98.6% in the second quarter of 2013 and 84% in the third quarter of 2012, according to Eurostat data.
In absolute numbers, public debt reached 18.4 bln euros from 15 bln euros in the third quarter of 2012.
According to Eurostat, the increase is due primarily to the loan Cyprus has taken from the European Stability Mechanism.
At the end of the third quarter of 2013, the government debt in the euro area (EA17) stood at 92.7%, compared with 93.4% at the end of the second quarter of 2013, the first fall in absolute terms since the fourth quarter of 2007.
In the EU28 it increased from 86.7% to 86.8%, mainly due to exchange rate effects.
Compared with the third quarter of 2012, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 90.0% to 92.7%) and the EU28 (from 84.9% to 86.8%).
The highest government debt at the end of the third quarter of 2013 was recorded in Greece (171.8%), Italy (132.9%), Portugal (128.7%) and Ireland (124.8%), and the lowest in Estonia (10.0%), Bulgaria (17.3%) and Luxembourg (27.7%).
Compared with the second quarter of 2013, ten member states saw an increase in their debt at the end of the third quarter of 2013, seventeen recoded an decrease and Slovenia had no change.
The highest increases were in Cyprus (+11.0 percentage points), Luxembourg (+4.6 pp) and Greece (+3.0 pp). The largest decreases were in Portugal (-2.6 pp), Finland (-2.5 pp), Belgium (-1.5 pp), Germany (-1.4 pp) and Hungary (-1.3 pp).
Compared with the third quarter of 2012, 23 member sates registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2013, and five a decrease. The highest increases were in Cyprus (+25.3 pp), Greece (+19.9 pp), Spain (+14.3 pp) and Slovenia (+14.1 pp), while decreases were recorded in Germany (-2.8 pp), Latvia (-2.0 pp), Bulgaria (-1.4 pp), Denmark (-0.9 pp) and Lithuania (-0.8 pp).