April 22, 2020
According to Eurostat, “in 2019, the government deficit of both the euro area (EA19) and the EU27 increased in relative terms compared with 2018, while the government debt declined in both zones.” Furthermore, in the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio increased from 0.5% in 2018 to 0.6% in 2019, and in the EU27 from 0.4% to 0.6%. At the end of 2018, there was a decline from 85.8% in the government debt to GDP ratio, in the euro area, to 84.1% at the end of 2019. While, in the EU27, there was a decline from 79.6% to 77.8%.
Notably, in 2019, government surplus was registered in Denmark (+3.7%), Luxembourg (+2.2%), Bulgaria (+2.1%), Cyprus and the Netherlands (both +1.7%), Greece (+1.5%), Germany (+1.4%), Austria (+0.7%), Malta, Slovenia and Sweden (all +0.5%), Ireland and Croatia (both +0.4%), Czechia and Lithuania (both +0.3%), and Portugal (+0.2%). While, France (-3.0%) and Romania (-4.3%) had deficits equal to or above 3% of GDP.
At the end of 2019, Estonia (8.4%), Bulgaria (20.4%), Luxembourg (22.1%), Czechia (30.8%) and Denmark (33.2%) registered the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP. Whereas, eleven Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP, with the highest being in Greece (176.6%), Italy (134.8%), Portugal (117.7%), Belgium (98.6%), France (98.1%), Spain and Cyprus (both 95.5%).
In addition, as stated by Eurostat, “In 2019, government expenditure in the euro area was equivalent to 47.1% of GDP and government revenue to 46.5%. The figures for the EU27 were 46.7% and 46.2% respectively. In both zones the government expenditure ratio increased between 2018 and 2019, while the government revenue ratio remained stable.”
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