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International Internet Magazine. Baltic States news & analytics Friday, 29.03.2024, 13:14

Estonia's govt debt continues to be lowest in EU

BC, Tallinn, 23.10.2020.Print version
The government debt to GDP ratio for Estonia as at the end of the second quarter of 2020 was 18.5%, being the lowest such indicator for European Union member states, writes LETA/BNS.

The government debt ratio of Estonia was 9.3 percentage points higher than at the end of the second quarter of 2019 and 9.6 points higher than at the end of the first quarter of 2020, figures available from Eurostat show.


The next lowest levels of government debt in the EU, after Estonia, were recorded in Bulgaria, 21.3%, and Luxembourg, 23.8%. 


The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the second quarter, the quarter in which the impacts of the containment measures as well as policy responses to the containment measures fully materialized in increased financing needs, according to Eurostat, were recorded in Greece, 187.4%, Italy, 149.4%, Portugal. 126.1%, Belgium, 115.3%, France, 114.1%, Cyprus, 113.2%, and Spain, 110.1%. 


The government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 95.1% at the end of the second quarter of 2020, compared with 86.3% at the end of the first quarter of 2020. In the EU, the ratio increased from 79.4% to 87.8%. Compared with the second quarter of 2019, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area, from 86.2% to 95.1%, and the EU, from 79.7% to 87.8%. The sharp increases were due to two factors: government debt increasing sharply, and GDP decreasing.


Compared with the first quarter of 2020, all member states registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the second quarter. The largest increases in the ratio were observed in Cyprus, +17.1%age points (pp), France, +12.8 pp, Italy, +11.8 pp, Spain, +11.1 pp, Croatia and Belgium, both +11.0 pp, Slovakia, +10.6 pp, and Greece, +10.5 pp.


Compared with the second quarter of 2019, all member states but Ireland, which saw a reduction by 0.3%age points, registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the second quarter of 2020. The largest increases in the ratio were recorded in France, +14.9 pp, Belgium, +12.9 pp, Italy, +11.9 pp, and Spain, +11.7 pp.






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