Forex Flash: Government debt in Europe remains historically high – Goldman Sachs

According to the Economics Research Team at Goldman Sachs, “Given that government balance sheets across the Euro area remain distinct, the fiscal strength of the Euro area as a whole still rests in large part on its most vulnerable member states.” With the fiscally weakest small member states now covered by support programs, the focus has shifted to larger Euro area countries with fiscal challenges, since their potential fiscal needs exceed the current size of the European fiscal rescue facilities.

Government debt remains historically high and is rising in most large Euro area economies. Over the past year, government debt-to-GDP has risen by around 10% in Spain, 7.5% in Italy and 5% in France. In contrast, German debt is unchanged.