Public debt level falls for first time in eight months

The total debt of Spain’s public administrations came in at 913.985 billion euros at the end of April, which represents an 8.843-billion-euro fall compared to the previous month. As a percentage of GDP, Spain’s public debt fell from 88.2 percent to 87.3 percent from March to April, according to figures released Monday by the Bank of Spain.

The fall breaks an upward trend that began in August 2012 and peaked in March, when Spain’s public debt reached a new record high of 922.828 billion euros.

Despite the fall seen in April, public debt in the first four months of 2013 was up 19 percent on the same period a year before, when the amount owed by Spain’s public administrations stood at 768.640 billion euros.

Long-term bonds

Of the total debt held by the public administrations up until April, 81.174 billion euros corresponds to short-term bonds — more than 2 billion euros less than in March — but the majority of the debt continues to be in mid- to long-term bonds, at a total of 617.203 billion euros, 5.771 billion less than the previous month.

The government is forecasting that public debt levels will reach 90.5 percent of GDP during 2013. However, if the figures continue to rise at the same rhythm seen so far this year, the final figure will be higher.