The euro area lowered its budget deficit to 5.1% of GDP in 2021, with a deficit amount of 629,819 million euros. Eurostat’s data show the debt ratio easing from 97% to 95.4%, reversing a negative imbalance of 7% (807,175 million) from the previous year, which equates to 11.74 billion.
Across the European Union as a whole, public deficit stood at 4.6% of GDP in 2021, amounting to 673.13 million euros, compared with 6.7% in 2020. Public debt in the EU reached 12.76 trillion euros in 2021, equaling 87.9% of GDP, a slight improvement from 89.8% in 2020.
In 2021, all EU member states except Denmark, which posted a 3.6% increase, and Luxembourg, up 0.8%, ended the year with a negative balance. The largest gaps were recorded in Malta at -7.8%, Greece at -7.5%, Italy at -7.2%, and Hungary and Romania at -7.1%. Latvia reported -7%, while Spain stood at -6.9% and France at -6.5%. In total, 15 of the 27 members ended 2021 with deficits exceeding 3% of GDP.
On the debtor end, Estonia, Bulgaria, Luxembourg, Sweden and Denmark posted the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios.
By the close of 2021, fourteen EU members held debt levels above 60% of GDP, with Greece at the highest level of 194.5%, followed by Italy at 150.3%, Portugal at 125.5%, Spain at 118.3%, France at 112.8%, Belgium at 109.2%, and Cyprus at 101%.
fell to 2.1% in the second quarter
In the euro area, the quarterly deficit measured against GDP stood at -2.1% in the second quarter, the lowest level since the final quarter of 2019, when the ratio reached -1.8% in the EU as a whole.
The statistical office noted that the shift in the deficit-to-GDP ratio largely reflected stronger total income growth relative to total expenditure, alongside a higher GDP compared with the first quarter of the year.
Between April and June 2022, total revenue and total expenses were still influenced by pandemic response measures, though to a lesser extent than in earlier quarters.
Among the twenty-seven countries, the most notable deficits in the second quarter were in Malta at -6.6% and Spain at -4.2%. Belgium and France posted -4% and -3.9% respectively, while the largest surpluses appeared in Portugal at 3%, with the Netherlands and Sweden at 2.4%, Lithuania at 1.9% and Estonia at 1.8%.