By N. Bellos
Eurostat on Tuesday reported that Greece’s public debt in the second quarter of 2018 reached 179.7 percent of GDP, or 323.3 billion euros, posting a marginal decrease compared with the first quarter of the year, when it reached 180.3 percent.
Nevertheless, the debt was up by 3.6 percentage points – or 14.3 billion euros – compared with the same quarter of 2017, mostly on the back of extended loans by institutional creditors as part of the third bailout.
Data announced by Greece’s statistics authority on Tuesday do not include the disbursement of an ESM loan last August, used to accumulate a so-called “cash buffer”, essentially a contingency fund to allow the Greek state to avoid a foray into sovereign markets amid unfavorable conditions.
