Lithuania’s government debt among lowest in EU

In 2013, the government deficit of both the euro area (EA18) and the EU28 decreased in absolute terms compared with 2012, while the government debt rose in both zones. In the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio decreased from 3.6 percent in 2012 to 2.9 percent in 2013 and in the EU28 from 4.2 percent to 3.2 percent. In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio increased from 89.0 percent at the end of 2012 to 90.9 percent at the end of 2013 and in the EU28 from 83.5 percent to 85.4 percent.

In 2013, Luxembourg (+0.6 percent) and Germany (+0.1 percent) registered a government surplus and the lowest government deficits in percentage of GDP were recorded in Estonia (-0.5 percent), Denmark (-0.7 percent), Latvia (-0.9 percent), Bulgaria (-1.2 percent), Czech Republic and Sweden (both -1.3 percent). Ten Member States had deficits higher than 3 percent of GDP: Slovenia (-14.6 percent), Greece (-12.2 percent), Spain (-6.8 percent), the United Kingdom (-5.8 percent), Ireland (-5.7 percent), Croatia (-5.2 percent), Cyprus and Portugal (both -4.9 percent), France (-4.1 percent) and Poland (-4.0 percent).

At the end of 2013, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (10.1 percent), Bulgaria (18.3 percent), Luxembourg (23.6 percent), Romania (37.9 percent), Latvia (38.2 percent), Sweden (38.6 percent), Lithuania (39.0 percent), Denmark (45.0 percent) and Czech Republic (45.7 percent). Sixteen Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60 percent of GDP, with the highest registered in Greece (174.9 percent), Portugal (128.0 percent), Italy (127.9 percent), Ireland (123.3 percent), Belgium (104.5 percent) and Cyprus (102.2 percent).