Spain May Have Billions Euros of ‘Hidden’ Public Debt, FT Says

Spain’s regional and local administrations have “hidden” debt, not included in the official accounts, amounting to about 26.4 billion euros ($37 billion), according to research by Freemarket Corporate Intelligence, a consulting firm, the Financial Times reported.

The latest figures from the Bank of Spain show that the country’s 17 autonomous regions have almost doubled their public debt, to 115 billion euros, since 2008, while municipal and provincial debt has risen to 35 billion euros and central government debt stands at 488 billion euros, the newspaper said.