Japan stands out on the map of countries with the largest public debt, which had national debt in 2017. On the other side, BiH is among countries with smallest debt rate in the region, while Croatia and Slovenia are the most indebted.
According to Al Jazeera Balkans, the list of countries with public debt offers an insight into debt of countries in relation to gross domestic product (GDP). In order to compare quotas of indebtedness of different countries, different sizes of national economies have to be considered and thus the total debt is observed in relation to GDP.
Considering the fact that Japan was declared as a country with the largest national debt, it amounted to 223.8 % of GDP and that means that whole economy would have to work for 2.23 years in order to fully pay off the national debt to creditors of Japanese country. Eventual interests were not taken into account.
Greece is in the second place with national debt that makes 180 % of GDP. Greece is followed by Lebanon, Yemen, Italy and Portugal.
Two countries without public debt are Macao and East Timor. Brunei have national debt of 3.1 % of GDP, Lebanon 5.1 % and Afghanistan 8.3 %. The national debt of Russia amounts to 11.8 % of GDP, and the national debt of Iran amounts to 14.2 %.
When it comes to regional countries in the EU, Slovenia and Croatia have the largest public debt. The public debt of Croatia amounts to 81.5 % of GDP, while Slovenian public debt amounts to 78.6 %. The lowest debt has Kosovo – 20.6 % of GDP and BiH – 43.2 % of GDP.
Al Jazeera Balkans also stated that the average debt of members of the EU in the year of 2018 made around 81 % of total GDP. However, that figure covers large difference amongst member countries. With already mentioned public debt of Greece, other countries including Italy, Portugal, Cyprus and Belgium have public debts larger than GDP as well.
(Source: klix.ba)
