SLOVAKIA’s public debt increased in the second quarter of 2013 to 58 percent of the GDP, according to the European statistics office Eurostat.
In the first quarter of 2013 the debt was at 54.8 percent.
The Finance Ministry however insists that the public debt will not exceed the limit of 55 percent by the end of this year, and it will oscillate around the expected 54.3 percent.
The 55-percent limit means the launch of further measures based on the debt brake, including the obligation to tie 3 percent of public expenditure.
The increase in the public debt in the first half of 2013 is caused by the accumulation of resources from the sale of state securities, namely €7 billion from the emission of state bonds and another €250 million, said Martin Filko from the Institute of Financial Policy governmental think tank, as reported by the SITA newswire.
The state will now be able to reduce the state’s reserve in order to decrease the debt in the second half of 2013.
“The main factors that will contribute to the decrease are the regular payments of bonds amounting to €1.5 billion and the planned premature purchase amounting to €1.4 billion,” Filko said, as quoted by SITA.
