Greece Debt-to-GDP to Drop Below Italy's This Year

Greece's public debt-to-GDP ratio is projected to drop below Italy's this year, ending two decades as the eurozone's most indebted nation, according to two senior officials and data from Italy's budget plan.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Greece's ratio will fall to around 137 percent this year, down from 145.9 percent in 2025. This estimate will appear in Greece's multiyear fiscal plan, due to the European Commission by month's end. In comparison, Italy's ratio is expected to rise to 138.6 percent in 2026, up 1.5 percentage points from 137.1 percent the prior year, according to the Italian Treasury's multiyear budget plan released this week. Italy's debt is forecast to stabilize at 138.5 percent in 2027 before gradually declining to 137.9 percent in 2028 and 136.3 percent in 2029.

Greece's decline reflects a sustained recovery from its sovereign debt crisis, which began after the 2008 global financial meltdown. The country received three international bailouts totaling about 280 billion euros from 2010 to 2015, provided by the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In return, Greece enacted austerity...