Germany more than 2 trillion euro in red: data

FRANKFURT - Agence France-Presse

Photo taken on June 3, 2003 shows an employee at the German printer manufacturer Manroland factory in Augsburg. AFP photo

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, had debt totalling 2.028 trillion euros ($2.65 trillion) at the end of the third quarter of this year, according to provisional official data published on Tuesday. That represents a fractional increase of 0.5 percent or 10.4 billion euros over the figure recorded for the end of the second quarter, the national statistics office said in a statement.

The lion's share of the debt, or 1.289 trillion euros, was attributable to the federal government, while the regional states had debt totalling 610 billion euros and the municipal authorities had debt of 129 billion euros. The total figure represents more than 80 percent of Germany's gross domestic product of 2.5 trillion euros in 2010, way above the 60-percent ceiling laid down by the European Union.

Nevertheless, the German debt ratio is better than many other eurozone countries. Italy's, for example, stands at 120 percent, and the eurozone average at more than 85 percent.