{{New figures from the European Commission show that EU governments are gradually making progress with their financial problems.}}<\/p>\n
The budget deficit – the amount of new borrowing they undertake – came down last year.<\/p>\n
For the whole EU, it fell from 3.9% of GDP in 2012 to 3.3%. For the eurozone, the decline was from 3.7% to 3%.<\/p>\n
But they are still borrowing substantial amounts, so the total accumulated debt continued to rise.<\/p>\n
That pattern affected both the eurozone and the European Union as a whole.<\/p>\n
The eurozone figure is in line – just – with the upper limit that the EU expects member countries to meet.<\/p>\n
Of course, there was a wide variation within the eurozone, with some countries borrowing a lot less than maximum.<\/p>\n
Germany’s government finances were close to being balanced: no new borrowing. Luxembourg managed a small surplus, which means it reduced its government debt slightly.<\/p>\n
Others still couldn’t comply with the 3% of GDP limit. France and Spain were the two big economies that went over that level, while Italy was just in line with it.<\/p>\n
The figures for Greece tell an interesting story. A casual look suggests they got worse. But going beneath the surface, that was due to the costs of propping up the banks, a cost that isn’t repeated year after year. Take that out of the picture and the figures look a good deal better.<\/p>\n
{BBC}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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