EUROPE'S debt dynamics keep getting worse in spite of years of cost-cutting and tax hikes designed to return public finances to health.

Official figures showed yesterday the debt burden of the 17 European Union countries that use the euro hit all-time highs at the end of the first quarter even after austerity measures were introduced to rebalance the governments' books.

Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, said government debt as a proportion of the total annual gross domestic product of the eurozone rose to a record 92.2 percent in the first quarter of 2013, from 90.6 percent the previous quarter and 88.2 percent in the same period a year ago.

Battered by a global recession, a banking crisis and in some cases lax financial management, a number of euro countries have been forced to take remedial action to deal with their debts, some in return for multibillion bailout loans.

Some progress has been made - many countries' annual budget deficits are falling. Greece, for example, is expected to start posting economic growth next year while recording a primary surplus - the annual budget excluding debt-related payments - after years of austerity that's contributed to a near six-year recession and unemployment of around 27 percent.

One side-effect of the austerity measures has been to keep a lid on economic growth - government spending is a key component of the economy while tax rises can choke consumption and investment.

Many euro countries are actually in recession - shrinking economies can make the debt-to-GDP ratio look less favorable. Coupled with the fact that countries continue to add to their debt mountains by ongoing, albeit smaller, budget deficits, the overall debt burden of the eurozone has continued to rise.

The hope of those who have advocated austerity as the main response to Europe's debt crisis is that economic growth will start to emerge as soon as countries get their borrowing levels down to manageable levels. Figures for the second quarter are expected next month, and there are hopes that the eurozone recession, which has lasted since the end of 2011, may end.

Greece, which in 2009 became the first euro country to suffer a loss of investor confidence over the state of its public finances, has the highest debt burden in the eurozone of 160.5 percent. That's up from the previous quarter's 156.9 percent and from the previous year's equivalent 136.5 percent.

The second highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the eurozone is Italy's 130.3 percent. Italy, however, has not needed a financial rescue like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Cyprus.

Across the eurozone, total debt stood at 8.75 trillion euros (US$11.4 trillion) at the end of the first quarter, up from 8.6 trillion the previous quarter and 8.34 trillion the year before.