Piiggs

The so-called contagion of the public debt crisis among the PIIGGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Great Britain and Spain) worries Washington and Tokyo, the deepest in debt non-European governments.

Unlike in 2008, now it is no more just PIGS that drag the EU down. The PIGS club has now expanded, with Ireland first, and ironically, Great Britain next, as the newly qualified members of the PIGS, making it PIIGGS (adding another ‘I', for Ireland and another ‘G', for Great Britain).

The collective term — with permutations such as PIIGGS to include Ireland and Great Britain among the list of debt-ridden countries — has been denounced by politicians in Portugal and Spain.