Spain public debt ratio to near 100%

Madrid: Spain’s public debt will rise next year to 99.8 per cent of output after hitting 94.2 per cent at the end of this year, higher than previously forecast, according to details of the government’s 2014 budget published on Monday. Spain’s ratio of debt to gross domestic product (GDP) has soared since 2008, when the end of a decade-long property boom triggered an economic slump that caused unemployment to jump and tax revenues to plunge. It rose to 85.9 per cent of GDP at the end of 2012 from 68.5 per cent of output at the end of 2011.