Spanish public debt level to 100.5% of GDP, a record in 20 years – ElEspectador.com

Spanish public debt climbed to 100.5% of GDP in the first quarter of 2016, a record in 20 years , announced at a time when Brussels is considering whether sanctions Madrid for their excessive deficits

the amount of debt released Wednesday -. 1.095 billion euros (1.229 billion dollars) – is the highest quarterly number since the Bank of Spain (central) began tracking this statistic in 1995.

This is the second time the d public EuDA of Spain exceeds the symbolic barrier of 100% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), since in the first quarter of 2015 had stood at 100.2% of GDP.

in the last quarter of 2015, the Spanish debt stood at 99.20% of GDP.

the new escalation comes amid the campaign for new legislative elections June 26, which has been among the hottest topics in the level of debt, deficit and high unemployment.

Candidate for reelection, the head of the Spanish government, the conservative Mariano Rajoy has pledged to reduce debt to 99.1% of GDP and the public deficit to 3, 6% by the end of this year.

in 2007, before the outbreak of the housing bubble that dragged the country into a long and deep crisis, Spain was one of the least indebted in Europe, with a public debt below 37% of GDP.

Since then, because bank bailout of more than EUR 40,000 million and high interest that the State had to pay for years to finance in markets that distrusted their solvency, the fourth largest economy in the euro zone tripled its volume of public debt.

country is now as the sixth most indebted among the 28 members of the European Union, behind only Greece, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus and Belgium, all with debts of more than 100% of GDP, according to figures from the European statistics agency Eurostat correspodientes 2015.

last year, the EU average was 85.2%, according to the same source.

in order not to interfere in the election campaign, the European Commission decided to postpone until July its decision on a possible sanction to Spain because of its excessive deficit, which in 2015 climbed to 5%, when Brussels expected 4.2%.

Rajoy promised to take all necessary measures to reduce the deficit to 3.6% in 2016 and below the maximum ceiling of 3% measures set by the EU in 2017.

Or so he said in a letter sent in May to the Commission, while on the other hand promised on the campaign trail new tax cuts, a contradiction which earned him harsh criticism of his opponents.

According to several economists, Spain should cut some 25,000 million euros more to respect the European rule and return the debt under 3% of GDP.

the new legislative elections of June 26 must then be convened that previous December elections resulted in a fragmented parliament that did not reach agreements to form a coalition government.

the Spanish are summoned again to the polls, when persistent social unrest because of the high level of unemployment and the precariousness of new jobs.

Thanks to the exit of the recession, the unemployment has fallen but is still very high: in the first quarter of 2016 affected 21% of the active population. In the EU, only Greece has a higher percentage of unemployed.