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Public debt mainly held by non-residents in half of the EU Member States

Jun 22, 2017 | News

(22 June 2017) – Significant differences can be observed across the European Union regarding the sector in which government debt is held.

Debt
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Among Member States for which data are available, the share of public debt held by non-residents in 2016 was highest in Cyprus (79%), followed by Latvia (72%), Austria (71%), Finland (70%) and Lithuania (69%).

In contrast, the largest proportion of debt held by the (resident) financial corporations sector was recorded in Denmark (67%), ahead of Sweden (64%), Luxembourg (63%), Croatia, Italy and Malta (all 62%).

Generally across the EU, less than 10% of debt was held by the resident non-financial sectors (non-financial corporations, households and non-profit institutions serving households), with the noticeable exceptions of Malta (28%), Hungary (18%), Ireland and Portugal (both 11%).

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