Figures issued on Wednesday by the Bank of Spain show the results of two recessions within four years and a European bailout of the banks to be a record public debt in May 2013 of €937,334 billion, equivalent to €20,000 for every single person in the country.
The public debt rose by €23,349 billion between April and May 2013 and now stands at 89.6% of GDP. Since the government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy came to power, public debt has risen by around 200 billion euros, or 20 percent of GDP. Rajoy’s predecessor, Socialist José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, presided over a similar increase.
The Rajoy administration expects public debt to rise to 91.4% of GDP by the end of this year, similar to the IMF’s estimate of 91.8%. However, the IMF expects debt levels to continue to rise before peaking at 110% of GDP in 2018.