【英语财经】欧元区债务水平创新高 Eurozone borrowing hits record level as economic recovery remains weak

Debt levels in the eurozone have reached a record high in spite of an incipient economic recovery in the region, underlining the challenges governments face in tackling the legacy of the sovereign debt crisis.

The European Central Bank’s large-scale programme of quantitative easing has pushed down interest rates to ultra low levels, encouraging governments to borrow more in the early part of this year, despite the continuing turmoil in Greece.

Steven Major, head of fixed income research at HSBC, said the increase was due to “opportunistic borrowing at current low rates by some countries, less austerity by others”. “What’s certain is that anyone who thinks Europe’s debt stock is shrinking is sorely mistaken,” he added.

Across countries that use the euro, average debt to gross domestic product reached 92.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2015, up from 92 per cent in the previous quarter and 91.9 per cent in the same period last year, according to figures from Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency. Greece remains Europe’s most indebted nation, with debt equal to 169 per cent of annual GDP, but Italy, Belgium, Cyprus and Portugal also carry government debt that exceeds 100 per cent of economic output.

The rise in debt comes despite a pick-up in the pace of recovery in the eurozone, with the region’s economy expanding by 0.4 per cent in the first quarter of this year — while the US saw a contraction.

Economists expect growth to continue this year, as the ECB’s QE programme and a cheaper euro bolster both domestic demand and exports.

But economic growth is still too weak to make up for the volume of government borrowing. While the aggregate budget deficit for the eurozone has come down by more than a third since 2011, it remained as high as 2.4 per cent in 2014, according to Eurostat figures.

欧元区的债务水平达到历史新高，尽管该地区出现了初步的经济复苏，这凸显了欧元区各国政府在应对主权债务危机遗留问题方面遇到的挑战。

欧洲央行(ECB)的大规模量化宽松计划已将利率压低至超低水平（尽管希腊局势持续动荡），鼓励各国政府在今年早些时候借入更多资金。

汇丰(HSBC)全球固定收益研究主管斯蒂文?梅杰(Steven Major)表示，欧元区债务增加是因为“一些国家利用当前低息环境进行机会主义的借款，另外一些国家则减轻了紧缩程度。”他补充称：“可以确定的是，任何认为欧洲债务存量正在缩小的人都不幸错了。”

根据欧盟统计局(Eurostat)的数据，使用欧元的各国的债务与国内生产总值(GDP)之比在2015年首季度平均达到92.9%，而上个季度该数字为92%，去年同期为91.9%。希腊依然是欧元区负债最多的国家，其债务相当于该国年度GDP的169%，但意大利、比利时、塞浦路斯和葡萄牙的政府债务也都超过经济产出的100%。

欧元区债务水平上升是在复苏步伐有所加快的背景下出现的。今年首季度欧元区经济实现了0.4%的经济增长，同期美国经济出现了收缩。

由于欧洲央行施行量化宽松计划，且更低廉的欧元提振了国内需求和出口，经济学家们预测欧元区今年还将继续增长。

但欧元区经济增长依然太过疲弱，赶不上政府借款总量。欧盟统计局数据显示，虽然自2011年以来欧元区总预算赤字降低了逾三分之一，但2014年该数字仍高达2.4%。

译者/许雯佳