Chart of the day: Definitive guide to the European debt web

The BBC has a terrific chart tool that gives you a good feel for exactly how much the sovereign debtors and other debtors in each of the European countries owe and to which other countries. The great thing about this chart is that it also shows you the debt flows outside of the European periphery i.e. for France and Germany, as well as for Japan, the US and Britain in both directions. I would like to see the breakdown between sovereign and other foreign debt more definitively. But on the whole, this is a superb tool from the BBC.

Below are snapshots of all of the countries represented. The one country we are missing that might be interesting is China. The source link is at the bottom. Click there to play around with the graphic yourself. (Hat tip Andy Lees).

*Note: The numbers are current as of June 2011 with source data from the Bank for International Settlements, IMF, World Bank, UN Population Division.

The BBC source note:

Notes on the data: The Bank for International Settlements data, represented by the proportional arrows, shows what banks in one country are owed by debtors – both government and private – in another country. It does not include non-bank debts. Only key eurozone debtors and their top creditors are shown. Although China is known to hold European debt, no comprehensive figures are available.

GDP figures are the latest complete 2010 figures from the IMF. The percentage of gross government debt to GDP is also the latest IMF calculation.

Overall gross external (or foreign) debt is taken from the latest 2011 World Bank/IMF figures and includes all debt owed overseas, including that owed by governments, monetary authorities, banks and companies. Gross external debt per head of population is calculated using the latest medium variant population figures from the UN Population Division.

Source: Eurozone debt web: Who owes what to whom? – BBC