National debt nudges up

The outstanding debt of the Poland’s Treasury increased by PLN 3.5 billion during September, to reach a total of PLN 902 billion, according to a Polish press report on Tuesday. The report, which drew on data from the Ministry of Finance, noted that the increase, characterized by financing the state budget deficit to the tune of PLN 5.7 billion, had been exacerbated, in part, by foreign exchange costs due to the złoty’s strengthening and weakening in relation to major currencies. Poland’s current national debt-to-GDP ratio – the percentage of the country’s cumulative financial obligations in relation to its total economic output – stood at 66.8 percent. This was slightly higher than it was one year ago. At the end of 2015, it stood at 65.1 percent, while in 2013, the figure was 57 percent. The EU debt-to-GDP ratio average, according to Eurostat, was 91 percent.