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PIGS or PIIGS or PIIGGS is an acronym used in economics and finance. The PIGS acronym originally refers, often derogatorily, to the economies of the Southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece, and Spain. During the European debt crisis, the term was also increasingly used to refer to the economies of Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, four EU member states that were unable to refinance their government debt or to bail out over-indebted banks on their own during the crisis.
The term originated in the 1990s with the increased integration of the EU economies, and it was often used in reference to the growing debt and economic vulnerability of the Southern European EU countries. It was again popularised during the European sovereign-debt crisis of the late 2000s and expanded in use during this period. In the 1990s, Ireland was not included in this term; the country was still in the midst of its "Celtic Tiger" period, with debt significantly below the Eurozone average and a government surplus as late as 2006. However, taking on the guarantee of banks' debt, the government budget deficit rose to 32% of GDP in 2010, which was the world's largest. Ireland then became associated with the term, replacing Italy or changing the acronym to PIIGS, with Italy also indicated as the second "I". Sometimes a second G (PIGGS or PIIGGS), for Great Britain, was also added. In 2012, Patrick Allen writing for CNBC suggested that France should be added to the list.
The term is widely considered derogatory and its use was curbed during the period of the European crisis by the Financial Times and Barclays Capital in 2010.