PIGS (economics)

The acronym PIIGS is an acronym formed during the euro crisis in 2010 for the five euro - countries Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain.

The states is assumed that they have such a high national debt that they threatened national bankruptcy (see List of countries by public debt ratio ). Since the wording of the English word pigs ( German: " Pigs " ) remembers, she has the role of a pejorative connotations acronym.

Originally the term of the PIGS countries was founded in 2008 by Anglo-Saxon journalists used. Herein was the "I" for Italy.

Occasionally, that also meant derogatory acronym GIPSI is used (English: gypsy, dt: Gypsies), some with another I for Iceland, although this state is not a member of the EU and has its own currency. Also is - rarely - the acronym for another G extended to include also the UK (actually, United Kingdom). Another variant is the order GIIPS where the G for Greece is called in the first place.

Due to the irreverent nature of the term was, in particular, repeatedly criticized by the public of the affected States.