France, whose debt status is being closely watched after a ratings downgrade and political instability sparked by President Emmanuel Macron’s announcement of snap elections, saw its debt go up by 0.9 percentage points of GDP compared with the previous quarter.
Greece continues to be the most indebted country in the eurozone, with total debt at almost 160 percent of GDP. However, it is also the country that is paying it down the fastest, with a 2.1 percentage-point decrease compared with the fourth quarter of 2023.
In Western Europe, it’s Belgium that saw the fastest increase in debt relative to its economy, with a 3.1 percentage-point increase quarter-on-quarter.
