Debt

Türkiye's net external debt stock rose from $265 billion in the second quarter of 2024 to $265.4 billion in the third quarter, the Treasury Ministry has said.

The share of the external debt in the country's GDP was 21.1 percent in the third quarter, down from 22.1 percent in the previous period.

The further improvement of banks' fundamentals will determine their upgrade to investment level, which will also determine the further reduction of their borrowing costs in 2025 for the issuance of bonds, according to the Bank of Greece.

Scope Ratings credit rating agency upgraded on Friday the Greek economy to "BBB" with a stable outlook, from "BBB-" with a positive outlook.

Scope was the first agency recognized by the European Central Bank to give Greece investment grade in August 2023 and is now the first to upgrade its creditworthiness within investment grade.

Approximately 2,000 local government officials are facing the ax nearly a year after assuming office due to unpaid utility bills, traffic fines, property taxes and other debts, some of them for paltry sums, following the conclusions of inspections by the relevant authorities that have taken more than 12 months to be carried out.

A circular issued by the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (ADEA) describes in detail all the steps for repayment or prepayment, as well as for the write-off of balances through the prejudicial mechanism, to obtain tax clearance.

The Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA) announced last Friday that this Wednesday it will auction 26-week treasury bills to the amount of 500 million euros, in book entry form. Their maturity is May 30, 2025 and the settlement date is this Friday.

According to Georgi Dichev, chairman of the Chamber of Private Bailiffs (CPB), Bulgaria currently has 120,000 debtors under the age of 30. Specifically, 4,000 individuals are debtors under the age of 20, 36,000 are between 20 and 25 years old, and 80,000 fall into the 25-30 age group. The data comes from the CPB's internal database, which tracks such information.

The government is ending all talk of "what will happen after 2032" with the Greek debt, when the interest payment of the second bailout begins - an issue frequently raised as a concern by some, even if in reality there is no such concern - thanks to the excellent management by the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA), completely changing the policy around the debt.

Türkiye's short-term external debt stock inched up 0.1 percent from the end of 2023 to $176.4 billion as of September, the Central Bank has said.

Banks' short-term external debt stock increased by 15.5 percent to $79 billion, while other sectors' short-term external debt stock decreased by 3.9 percent to $59 billion.

The standard arrangement of 24 to 48 installments for debts to the tax office is becoming more flexible, as the draft law makes it easier for those who owe more than 50,000 euros.