February 19, 2010

Telegraph - OECD Says Britain’s deficit third worst in the world.

Britain has one of the worst deficits as a percentage of GDP in the world, according to OECD figures. Only Iceland and Greece have higher deficits and experts fear it could overtake Greece. Here is a table of how the UK compares with other nations.

Published: 10:00AM GMT 19 Feb 2010

Deficit as a % of GDP 
Iceland 15.7 
Greece 12.7 
Britain 12.6 
Ireland 12.2 
United States 11.2 
Spain 9.6 
France 8.2 
Japan 7.4 
Portugal 6.7 
Canada 4.8 
Australia 4 
Germany 3.2

Of Britain’s defict, Ross Walker, chief economist at RBS, said: “What do you expect when you run a deficit even during the boom years.”

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