Portugal Public Debt Rises to 130%

Portugal’s public debt rose to 130.5% of gross domestic product last year from 129% in 2015, Bank of Portugal data showed on Tuesday, putting the debt just shy of a record 130.6% registered in 2014, Reuters reported. The year-end debt ratio, which overshot the government’s projection of 127.7%, still showed a retreat from an intra-year high of 133.4% at the end of the third quarter. The central bank said earlier that the nominal gross public debt rose over 4% to €241.1 billion ($253.2 billion) in 2016. Portugal, which exited an international bailout in 2014 after a severe debt crisis, remains, along with Italy, among the most indebted eurozone economies after Greece, which is on its third international lifeline. The socialist government says it managed to cut the budget deficit to no more than 2.1% of GDP last year from 4.4% in 2015, and expects more growth and further reductions in the deficit and debt this year.