What is the debt-to-GDP ratio in the country where Massimo Baistrocchi lived?
11 percent
Title: National debt of the United States
Passage: Fiscal year Total debt Total debt as% of GDP Public debt Public debt as% of GDP GDP ($billions) 1910 2.65 / - 8.1% 2.65 8.1% est. 32.8 1920 25.95 / - 29.2% 25.95 29.2% est. 88.6 1927 18.51 / - 19.2% 18.51 19.2% est. 96.5 1930 16.19 / - 16.6% 16.19 16.6% est. 97.4 1940 42.97 / 50.70 43.8 -- 51.6% 42.77 43.6% - / 98.2 1950 257.3 / 256.9 92.0% 219.0 78.4% 279.0 1960 286.3 / 290.5 53.6 -- 54.2% 236.8 44.3% 535.1 1970 370.9 / 380.9 35.4 -- 36.4% 283.2 27.0% 1,049 1980 907.7 / 909.0 32.4 -- 32.6% 711.9 25.5% 2,796 1990 3,233 / 3,206 54.2 -- 54.6% 2,400 40.8% 5,915 2000 5,659 55.8% 3,450 33.9% 10,150 2001 5,792 54.8% 3,350 31.6% 10,550 2002 6,213 57.1% 3,550 32.7% 10,900 2003 6,783 59.9% 3,900 34.6% 11,350 7,379 61.0% 4,300 35.6% 12,100 2005 7,918 61.4% 4,600 35.7% 12,900 2006 8,493 62.1% 4,850 35.4% 13,700 2007 8,993 62.8% 5,050 35.3% 14,300 2008 10,011 67.9% 5,800 39.4% 14,750 2009 11,898 82.5% 7,550 52.4% 14,400 13,551 91.6% 9,000 61.0% 14,800 2011 14,781 96.1% 10,150 65.8% 15,400 2012 16,059 100.2% 11,250 70.3% 16,050 2013 16,732 101.3% 12,000 72.6% 16,500 2014 17,810 103.4% 12,800 74.2% 17,200 2015 18,138 101.3 / 101.8% 13,100 73.3% 17,900 2016 (Oct. '15 -- Jul.' 16 only) ~ 19,428 ~ 106.1% ~ 13,998 ~ 76.5%
Title: Nigeria
Passage: As of 2015[update], Nigeria is the world's 20th largest economy, worth more than $500 billion and $1 trillion in terms of nominal GDP and purchasing power parity respectively. It overtook South Africa to become Africa's largest economy in 2014. Also, the debt-to-GDP ratio is only 11 percent, which is 8 percent below the 2012 ratio. Nigeria is considered to be an emerging market by the World Bank; It has been identified as a regional power on the African continent, a middle power in international affairs, and has also been identified as an emerging global power. Nigeria is a member of the MINT group of countries, which are widely seen as the globe's next "BRIC-like" economies. It is also listed among the "Next Eleven" economies set to become among the biggest in the world. Nigeria is a founding member of the Commonwealth of Nations, the African Union, OPEC, and the United Nations amongst other international organisations.
Title: Growth in a Time of Debt
Passage: Growth in a Time of Debt, also known by its authors' names as Reinhart–Rogoff, is an economics paper by American economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff published in a non peer-reviewed issue of the "American Economic Review" in 2010. Politicians, commentators, and activists widely cited the paper in political debates over the effectiveness of austerity in fiscal policy for debt-burdened economies. The paper argues that when "gross external debt reaches 60 percent of GDP", a country's annual growth declined by two percent, and "for levels of external debt in excess of 90 percent" GDP growth was "roughly cut in half." Appearing in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008, the evidence for the 90%-debt threshold hypothesis provided support for pro-austerity policies.
Title: Belgium
Passage: Belgium was the first continental European country to undergo the Industrial Revolution, in the early 19th century. Liège and Charleroi rapidly developed mining and steelmaking, which flourished until the mid-20th century in the Sambre and Meuse valley and made Belgium among one of the three most industrialized nations in the world from 1830 to 1910. However, by the 1840s the textile industry of Flanders was in severe crisis, and the region experienced famine from 1846 to 1850.After World War II, Ghent and Antwerp experienced a rapid expansion of the chemical and petroleum industries. The 1973 and 1979 oil crises sent the economy into a recession; it was particularly prolonged in Wallonia, where the steel industry had become less competitive and experienced serious decline. In the 1980s and 1990s, the economic center of the country continued to shift northwards and is now concentrated in the populous Flemish Diamond area.By the end of the 1980s, Belgian macroeconomic policies had resulted in a cumulative government debt of about 120% of GDP. As of 2006, the budget was balanced and public debt was equal to 90.30% of GDP. In 2005 and 2006, real GDP growth rates of 1.5% and 3.0%, respectively, were slightly above the average for the Euro area. Unemployment rates of 8.4% in 2005 and 8.2% in 2006 were close to the area average. By October 2010, this had grown to 8.5% compared to an average rate of 9.6% for the European Union as a whole (EU 27). From 1832 until 2002, Belgium's currency was the Belgian franc. Belgium switched to the euro in 2002, with the first sets of euro coins being minted in 1999. The standard Belgian euro coins designated for circulation show the portrait of the monarch (first King Albert II, since 2013 King Philippe).
Title: Economy of Greece
Passage: According to Der Spiegel, credits given to European governments were disguised as "swaps" and consequently did not get registered as debt because Eurostat at the time ignored statistics involving financial derivatives. A German derivatives dealer had commented to Der Spiegel that "The Maastricht rules can be circumvented quite legally through swaps," and "In previous years, Italy used a similar trick to mask its true debt with the help of a different US bank." These conditions had enabled Greek as well as many other European governments to spend beyond their means, while meeting the deficit targets of the European Union and the monetary union guidelines. In May 2010, the Greek government deficit was again revised and estimated to be 13.6% which was the second highest in the world relative to GDP with Iceland in first place at 15.7% and Great Britain third with 12.6%. Public debt was forecast, according to some estimates, to hit 120% of GDP during 2010.
Title: Military budget of the United States
Passage: For FY 2010, Department of Defense spending amounts to 4.7% of GDP. Because the U.S. GDP has risen over time, the military budget can rise in absolute terms while shrinking as a percentage of the GDP. For example, the Department of Defense budget is slated to be $664 billion in 2010 (including the cost of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan previously funded through supplementary budget legislation), higher than at any other point in American history, but still 1.1 -- 1.4% lower as a percentage of GDP than the amount spent on military during the peak of Cold - War military spending in the late 1980s. Admiral Mike Mullen, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called four percent an ``absolute floor ''. This calculation does not take into account some other military - related non-DOD spending, such as Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and interest paid on debt incurred in past wars, which has increased even as a percentage of the national GDP.
Title: European Central Bank
Passage: As of 18 June 2012, the ECB in total had spent €212.1bn (equal to 2.2% of the Eurozone GDP) for bond purchases covering outright debt, as part of its Securities Markets Programme (SMP) running since May 2010. On 6 September 2012, the ECB announced a new plan for buying bonds from eurozone countries. The duration of the previous SMP was temporary, while the Outright Monetary Transactions (OMT) programme has no ex-ante time or size limit. On 4 September 2014, the bank went further by announcing it would buy bonds and other debt instruments primarily from banks in a bid to boost the availability of credit for businesses.
Title: Canadian public debt
Passage: The Canadian government debt, commonly called the ``public debt ''or the`` national debt'', is the amount of money owed by the Government of Canada to holders of Canadian Treasury security. In 2013, this number stood at CAD $1.2 trillion across federal and provincial governments. With the total GDP somewhere around CAD $1.8 trillion, Canada's overall debt / GDP ratio is around 66%. ``Gross debt ''is the national debt plus intragovernmental debt obligations or debt held by trust funds. Types of securities sold by the government include treasury bills, notes, bonds, Real Return Bonds, Canada Savings Bonds, and provincial government securities.
Title: Massimo Baistrocchi
Passage: Massimo Baistrocchi (August 17, 1942 – January 22, 2012) was an Italian writer, artist, freelance journalist and diplomat who served as Italy's Ambassador to Namibia from 2001 to 2004, as well as Ambassador to Ghana, Togo, Nigeria, and Benin.
Title: Economic inequality
Passage: For most of human history higher material living standards – full stomachs, access to clean water and warmth from fuel – led to better health and longer lives. This pattern of higher incomes-longer lives still holds among poorer countries, where life expectancy increases rapidly as per capita income increases, but in recent decades it has slowed down among middle income countries and plateaued among the richest thirty or so countries in the world. Americans live no longer on average (about 77 years in 2004) than Greeks (78 years) or New Zealanders (78), though the USA has a higher GDP per capita. Life expectancy in Sweden (80 years) and Japan (82) – where income was more equally distributed – was longer.
Title: Israel
Passage: Israel has one of the highest ratios of defense spending to GDP of all developed countries, only topped by Oman and Saudi Arabia. In 1984, for example, the country spent 24% of its GDP on defense. By 2006, that figure had dropped to 7.3%. Israel is one of the world's largest arms exporters, and was ranked fourth in the world for weapons exports in 2007. The majority of Israel's arms exports are unreported for security reasons. Since 1967, the United States has been a particularly notable foreign contributor of military aid to Israel: the US is expected to provide the country with $3.15 billion per year from 2013 to 2018. Israel is consistently rated low in the Global Peace Index, ranking 148th out of 162 nations for peacefulness in 2015.
Title: Chihuahua (state)
Passage: The state has the 12th-largest state economy in Mexico, accounting for 2.7% of the country’s GDP. Chihuahua has the fifth highest manufacturing GDP in Mexico and ranks second for the most factories funded by foreign investment in the country. As of 2011[update], the state had an estimated 396 billion pesos (31.1 billion dollars) of annual GDP. According to official federal statistical studies, the service sector accounted for the largest portion of the state economy at 59.28%; the manufacturing and industrial sector is estimated to account for 34.36% of the state's GDP, with the agricultural sector accounting for 6.36% of the state's GDP. Manufacturing sector was the principal foreign investment in the state followed by the mining sector. In 2011, the state received approximately 884 million dollars in remittances from the United States, which was 4.5% of all remittances from the United States to Mexico.
Title: History of the United States public debt
Passage: The history of the United States public debt started with federal government debt incurred during the American Revolutionary War by the first U.S treasurer, Michael Hillegas, after its formation in 1789. The United States has continuously had a fluctuating public debt since then, except for about a year during 1835 -- 1836. To allow comparisons over the years, public debt is often expressed as a ratio to gross domestic product (GDP). Historically, the United States public debt as a share of GDP has increased during wars and recessions, and subsequently declined.
Title: Economy of Greece
Passage: After fourteen consecutive years of economic growth, Greece went into recession in 2008. By the end of 2009, the Greek economy faced the highest budget deficit and government debt-to-GDP ratios in the EU. After several upward revisions, the 2009 budget deficit is now estimated at 15.7% of GDP. This, combined with rapidly rising debt levels (127.9% of GDP in 2009) led to a precipitous increase in borrowing costs, effectively shutting Greece out of the global financial markets and resulting in a severe economic crisis.
Title: Economy of Texas
Passage: As a sovereign country (2016), Texas would be the 10th largest economy in the world by GDP (ahead of South Korea and Canada). Texas's household income was $48,259 in 2010 ranking 25th in the nation. The state debt in 2012 was calculated to be $121.7 billion, or $7,400 per taxpayer. Texas has the second largest population in the country after California.
Massimo Baistrocchi Nigeria