HC Deb 09 July 1998 vol 315 c578W
Dr. Lynne Jones

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will give his reasons for defining a prudent level of public debt as being below 40 per cent. of GDP; and how this compares to the current level of public debt in each EU country. [47034]

Mr. Darling

The Government's policy on the level of public debt is explained in section 3.2.4 of the Economic and Fiscal Strategy Report published last month.

A comparison of net public debt as a proportion of GDP is set out in the table. These are based on OECD figures where available, and otherwise on European Commission data for gross Government debt.

General Government net financial liabilities (per cent. of GDP)
1997
Finland -5.3
Luxembourg1 6.7
Sweden 21.6
Denmark 40.6
France 43.0
UK 43.7
Netherlands 45.0
Austria 45.9
Germany 49.5
Spain 51.8
Portugal1 62.0
Ireland1 66.3
Greece1 108.7
Italy 108.8
Belgium 118.4
UK (whole public sector)2 43.3
1Figures for these countries are gross rather than net (European Commission)
2End-March 1998