Austrian Municipalities Suspected to Hide Public Debt

Politics ♦ Published: July 14, 2012; 19:33 ♦ (Vindobona)

About 40% of Austrian municipalities source out public debt. The size of hidden public debt could reach up to € 10bn.

Austrian Municipalities Suspected to Hide Public Debt / Picture: © Vindobona.org

According to a survey by the Austrian Audit Court, about 40% of the 2,357 Austrian municipalities may hide public debt in special purpose vehicles. At the moment, the official debt level of Austrian municipalities comes at € 4.6bn. Moreover, the municipality of Vienna records public debt of € 4.0bn.

The Austrian public debt council thinkts that there is an inofficial size of…