France s debt GDP ratio is already around 90 even if its 2013 budget deficit does not exceed 3.5 of GDP, its debt GDP ratio will have climbed to 93 by the end of the year.

The debt GDP ratio varies a lot by country.

The eurozone as a whole has a debt to GDP ratio of 90 , which is high by any standard.

Add the open public debt of 67 of GDP to this total, and the result is an overall German debt GDP ratio of about 340 .

Each downward revision implies postponement of the date on which the debt GDP ratio will peak.

Its debt to GDP ratio stood at 113 by the end of 2009.

The annual budget deficit is nearly 10 of GDP, higher than any of the eurozone countries. With nominal GDP stagnating, that deficit is causing the debt GDP ratio to rise by 10 annually.

For Greece, with an overall deficit of 4.1 of GDP and a debt GDP ratio of 170 , the debt ratio would fall if the combination of inflation and real (inflation adjusted) GDP growth exceeded 2.4 .

Indeed, Japan s debt to GDP ratio is around 170 much higher than in Greece, where the figure stands at around 110 .

With the Italian debt GDP ratio currently at roughly 106 , lower borrowing costs reduced the public debt ratio by more than eight percentage points.

And the government debt to GDP ratio is around 190 , compared to 120 in Greece.

Owing to strong GDP growth, the debt to GDP ratio decreased from 100.2 per cent to 95.1 per cent.

With the Lebanese pound (LL) pegged to the United States dollar, the prevailing very high debt to GDP and debt to export ratios make that economy extremely vulnerable to adverse shocks.

He would also lower personal tax rates by 20 , and make up lost revenue by limiting tax deductions and credits, particularly at the upper end, thereby raising about 18.5 of GDP, just above the historical average, at full employment.

Stabilizing the debt to GDP ratio is thus the line in the sand that must not be crossed.

At a minimum, that would mean reducing the deficit to a level that stops the rise in the debt to GDP ratio.

Such circumstances include, first, a high debt GDP ratio, with rising interest rates impeding growth.

It is likely to rise to more than 60 of GDP by the end of 2010, with the debt to GDP ratio continuing to increase.

Politicians have exacerbated the situation by doubling down on fiscal austerity, which has undermined GDP growth while failing to shrink government debt GDP ratios.

India s overall public debt GDP ratio has been on a declining trend, from 73.2 in 2006 07 to 66 in 2012 13 (and the central government s debt GDP ratio is only 46 ).

Growth is essential to bringing down public debt GDP ratios, and thus is a key part of fiscal stabilization.

NEW YORK The Greek financial saga is the tip of an iceberg of problems of public debt sustainability for many advanced economies, and not only the so called PIIGS (Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, and Spain). Indeed, the OECD now estimates that public debt to GDP ratios in advanced economies will rise to an average of around 100 of GDP.

Indeed, the government debt to GDP ratio is about 20 , compared with more than 80 in the United States, 160 in Japan, and 60 90 in Europe.

In the first quarter of this year, the eurozone s public debt ratio actually rose, to 92.2 of GDP.

Moreover, Iceland s public debt GDP ratio now stands at 100 , compared to only 42 in Latvia.

Starting from 1999, the first year of recession, fiscal deficits rose substantially, alongside the public debt to GDP ratio.

The Government of Jordan continued its efforts to restructure the public debt stock, gradually replacing external by domestic sources with the external debt to GDP ratio declining from 76.4 per cent to 69.7 per cent during 2003 2004.

The economy is contracting so much that the debt GDP ratio is actually increasing, and the actual deficit is improving only marginally, because government revenues are falling along with GDP.

In 2007, the mortgage and consumer debt to GDP ratio was more than 90 , compared to 24 for net foreign debt.

That way, the debt GDP ratio declines because the denominator (economic output) increases, not because the numerator (the total the government has borrowed) declines.

China s budget was actually in surplus and its government debt to GDP ratio was only 21 before the crisis (now it is about 24 ), much lower than any other major economy.

With a debt GDP ratio of 230 , a four percentage point rise in borrowing costs would cause the annual deficit to double, to 20 of GDP.

A public debt crisis in Japan (as the combination of recession, deflation, and high deficits drove up the debt GDP ratio).

Consider, for example, the debt to GDP ratio, much in the news nowadays in Europe and the United States.

At any time in history, the debt to annual GDP ratio (including informal debts) would vastly exceed 100 .

By contrast, a typical post WWII Democratic administration has reduced the debt to GDP ratio by more than 1 per year.

Deficits are riskier if the level of the national debt, the accumulation of all previous deficits, is high or rapidly rising relative to GDP.

In the US (and the United Kingdom), the general government deficit today is still around 8 of GDP, compared to a little more than 3 of GDP in the eurozone, and the US debt GDP ratio has increased by more than 41 percentage points, compared to only 25 points in the eurozone.

Indeed, according to the OECD, by the end of this year, America s national debt GDP ratio will climb to 108.6 .

The restored tax rates will, for the foreseeable future, be sufficient to support the US defense establishment, the growing US social insurance system, and a moderate albeit inadequate and suboptimal amount of other discretionary federal spending.

An even starker example of the crucial difference between foreign and domestic debt is provided by Japan, which has by far the highest debt GDP ratio among OECD countries.

Greece overspent, but Spain and Ireland had fiscal surpluses and low debt to GDP ratios before the crisis.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the challenge of reducing the public debt GDP ratio to a safe level is daunting for most advanced countries.

In 2007, Spain and Ireland were models of fiscal rectitude, with far lower debt to GDP ratios than Germany had.

After all, if a country s debt GDP ratio is to decline without austerity, the interest rate that it pays on its debt must be lower than its GDP growth rate.