They are 19,000 million more than in May and 52,000 million more than a year ago, meaning two points away from the government’s target for 2022
Month after month the record is broken in the volume of government debt. The data for June point to a public debt level at an all-time high: Spain owes 1.475 billion euros, according to data released this Wednesday by the Bank of Spain. The figure breaks the record of the month of May and adds 19,000 million euros more in one month.
This very high debt volume should amount to 116.8% of GDP, two points above the government’s 2022 target of 115.2%. The figure is historic, tying the country at a time when interest rates are being raised by the European Central Bank (ECB), which will increase the cost of financing all that accumulated debt. The Tax Authorities (Airef) recently even warned that the national debt will cost the state 32,000 million euros more between now and 2025 as a result of the interest rate hike, raising the earlier forecast by 12,000 million.
Compared to a year ago, government debt has increased by 52,000 million, 3.6%, since June 2021, due to the need for government departments to take on an additional spending effort due to the impact of the coronavirus crisis and now the war in Ukraine.
Despite everything, they assure the Ministry of Economy that a “clear slowdown” is being observed in the rise in debt since the peak reached in the pandemic and that this is the first time the debt-to-GDP ratio has fallen below the 117% drop. , stood at 116.8% in June. The decline in the government debt-to-GDP ratio continued to decline in the second quarter of the year thanks to the acceleration of economic growth.
For this reason, they assure that this figure is “compatible” with the projection of a debt-to-GDP ratio of 115.2% of GDP that the government sent to Brussels in its stability program in April last year.
The state remains the leader in public debt, at 1.294 billion euros, an increase of 5% in just one year.
On the side of Social Security, the debt balance remains 99,100 million euros, which is 8% more than a year ago. The Bank of Spain explains that this large increase in the past year is due to the loans that the state has provided to the social security treasury to finance the imbalanced budget, which was further exacerbated by the covid-19 -crisis.
As for the territorial authorities, the debt of the autonomous communities grew by 1.5% in one year to 316,000 million in June, while that of local companies this month amounted to 22,800 million euros, which is 0.8% more than the balance was recorded in May 2021.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
