Cyprus is not alone in the troubled area, as the euro zone public debt rose sharply, with Eurostat figures showing that the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 93.9%, compared with 92.7% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2013.

The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the first quarter of 2014 were recorded in Greece (174.1%), Italy (135.6%) and Portugal (132.9%), and the lowest in Estonia (10.0%), Bulgaria (20.3%) and Luxembourg (22.8%).

According to Eurostat, the increase comes after two consecutive quarters of decrease.

In the EU28, the ratio increased from 87.2% to 88.0%. Compared with the first quarter of 2013, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 92.5% to 93.9%) and the EU28 (from 86.2% to 88.0%).

At the end of the first quarter of 2014, securities other than shares accounted for 79.3% of euro area and for 80.9% of EU28 general government debt, loans for 17.9% and 15.4% respectively and currency and deposits for 2.8% and 3.7%.

Compared with the first quarter of 2013, 16 Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2014, and 10 a decrease.

Besides Cyprus, the highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Slovenia (+23.9%), Greece (+13.5%) and Croatia (+9.9%), while the largest decreases were recorded in Poland (-7.7%), Germany (-3.2%), the Czech Republic (-2.2%), Latvia (-1.4 %) and Belgium (-0.9%).

Source: Cyprus Mail