Analytics, Budget, EU – Baltic States, Financial Services

Compared with the final quarter of 2016, the ratio was lower by 0.3 percentage points, whereas year over year a reduction by 0.7 percentage points took place, it appears from data of Eurostat.

Loans taken by Estonia equaled 8%, bonds 1%, and cash and deposits 0.2% of GDP.

The next lowest ratios of government debt after Estonia were measured in the EU in Luxembourg, 23.0%, and Bulgaria, 28.6%.

The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the first quarter of 2017 were recorded in Greece, 176.2%, Italy, 134.7%, and Portugal, 130.5%.

The government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 89.5%, compared with 89.2% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2016. In the EU28, the ratio also increased from 83.6% to 84.1%. Compared with the first quarter of 2016, the government debt to GDP ratio fell in both the euro area, from 91.2% to 89.5%, and the EU28, from 84.3% to 84.1%.

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2016, 12 member states registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2017, and 15 a decrease. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in the Czech Republic, plus 3.1 percentage points, and Luxembourg, plus 3.0 percentage points. The largest decreases were recorded in Greece, minus 2.9 percentage points, the Netherlands, minus 2.2 percentage points, and Austria, minus 2.0 percentage points.