Jan
20th
Wed
20th
How much debt can a country assume before it is pushed over the edge? It’s not a simple formula and varies from situation to situation. That said, there are levels at which the risk of a default rises significantly: when Brazil defaulted in 1999, it had debt as a percentage of GDP of 50%, Argentina had 55% at the time of its default in 2001 and Russia had 75% when it defaulted in 1998. These numbers are easily exceeded by a number of heavily indebted countries in Europe today. Hungary’s debt is 78% of GDP, Italy’s is 114%, Estonia has 124% and Greece has 125%.
