ZAGREB, October 22, 2020 – Croatia and 16 other EU member states recorded a budget surplus in 2019 but the public debt was above the prescribed upperlimit of 60% of GDP, shows a second Eurostat estimate released on Thursday.
The EU27 in 2019 recorded an average budget deficit of 0.5% of GDP, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous estimate, released in April.
In 2018 the deficit was 0.4%.
The euro area saw a budget deficit of 0.6% of GDP in 2019 and of 0.5% in 2018, which confirms the previous estimate, released in April.
Budget revenue expressed as a share in GDP was 46.1% in 2019 in the EU while budget expenses accounted for 46.7% of GDP.
In the euro area budget revenue was 46.4% and expenses 47.1% of GDP, Eurostat said.
Denmark has highest surplus
A total of 17 EU countries recorded a budget surplus, with Denmark reporting the highest, of 3.8%, followed by Luxembourg (2.5%), Bulgaria (1.9%) and the Netherlands (1.7%).
A budget surplus of below one percent was reported by a group of countries led by Austria, which reported a budget surplus of 0.7%.
Croatia had a general government surplus of 0.4% of GDP, with the surplus rising by HRK 112 million to HRK 962 million. In 2018 the share of the budget surplus in GDP was 0.2%.
A budget deficit at the upper allowed limit of 3% of GDP was reported by France, while Romania exceeded it with a budget deficit of 4.4%.
EU, euro area debt down in 2019
In the EU27 the public debt, expressed as a share in GDP, in 2019 dropped to 77.6% from 79.6% in 2018, with the April estimate having been slightly revised down.
In the euro area the public debt in 2019 was 84% of GDP, which confirms the April estimate.
As for 2018, the estimate was revised slightly up, to 85.8% of GDP.
Public debt highest in Greece
A total of 11 EU countries in 2019 crossed the upper allowed level of debt expressed as a share in GDP of 60%.
The highest debt to GDP ratio was reported by Greece, 180.5%, Italy, 134.7%, and Portugal, 117.2%.
Croatia’s debt-to-GDP ratio in 2019 was 72.8% or HRK 292.9 billion. In April the share of debt was estimated at 73.2% of GDP and the debt amounted to 293.02 billion.
In 2018 Croatia’s public debt totalled 74.3% of GDP, shows the latest estimate. In April it was estimated at 74.7%.
In 2019 Estonia had the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio, of 8.4%.
