Ireland's government debt to GDP ratio is now the fourth highest in the EU, data from the European Union's Statistics Office showed today.

Ireland's debt to GDP for the second quarter of 2012 was at 111.5 per cent, up 10 percentage points on the same time last year.

Meanwhile, euro zone government debt rose to 90 per cent of the single currency area's gross domestic product in the second quarter of 2012 from 88.2 per cent in the first three months.

The most indebted euro zone country, relative to its economic output, was Greece, which in the second quarter had a public debt of €300.807 billion, or 150.3 per cent of its GDP. That was down from 158.8 per cent of GDP or €340.906 billion a year earlier.

Greek debt fell to 136.9 per cent of GDP, or €280.423 billion in the first quarter, after a restructuring of privately held debt, but then grew again as a result of new loans from the euro zone to keep Athens from bankruptcy.

Eurostat said loans from euro zone governments to Greece, extended under the first bailout programme, totalled 1.6 per cent of euro zone GDP in the second quarter.

Reuters