Balearic debt is up 23% in a year

ACCUMULATED Balearic debt stood at 4'024 million euros in the third quarter of this year, 23.55 percent more than during the same period in 2009, the Bank of Spain confirmed yesterday.

The debt figure represents 15.2 percent of the regions Gross Domestic Product, and puts the Balearics as the third most indebted region of the country, after Valencia (16%) and Catalonia (15.4%).

However, in terms of the growth rate of debt during the third quarter, the Balearics has fared better than the rest of the country where the average was an increase of 27.36 percent.

The 4'024 million euros owed by the Balearics in September this year was also an increase of 5.29 percent in comparison with the previous quarter of April to June. In this instance, the regional figure exceeded the national average debt growth for the same period of 2.61 percent.

At a national level, the accumulated debt for the third quarter of this year stood at 107'624 million euros. Year-on-year local authority debt, said the Bank of Spain, increased by 4.6 percent to reach 36'226 million euros.

Majorca Daily Bulletin