(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, JAN 29 - In 2016, Slovenia was the EU member country with the biggest stock of non-performing loans taken by the government (5.9% of GDP), followed by Portugal (1.5%), the Czech Republic (1.4%) and Austria (1.1%). In Italy this stock is zero. Eurostat released today data regarding the 'theoretical' liabilities (this means they are only potential) and non-performing loans taken by governments in the 28 EU countries. This verification was a requirement of a stricter surveillance of the budgets introduced by the Six Pack, in order to have a clearer picture of the risks that public finances run.

With regard to state guarantees, the most common form of 'theoretical liabilities', Finland is ranked first (28% of GDP), followed by Austria (20.5%), Germany (14.3%). The lowest liabilities were recorded in Slovakia (0.03%), the Czech Republic (0.3%), Bulgaria (0.5%) and Lithuania (0.9%). In Greece (144%), followed by the Netherlands (104%), Germany (101%), Cyprus (90%) and Luxembourg (82%) the highest figures as for liabilities of entities controlled by the government. In Italy, they are 50%.(ANSA).