MADRID: Spain’s accumulated public debt soared to a record high at the end of June, the Bank of Spain said yesterday, shattering government targets despite a relentless austerity squeeze.
Spain, which boasts the eurozone’s fourth largest economy, had racked up an unprecedented public debt of ¤942.8bn ($1.3 trillion) by mid year, the bank said.
The figure was equal to 92.2 percent of the nation’s total annual economic output — up 14.7 percentage points from the same period last year.
With just half of the year gone, Spain had already missed its target of limiting the public debt to 91.4 percent of gross domestic product in 2013, the figures showed.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government is battling to rein in the soaring public debt by curbing spending.
AFP
