site.btaBulgaria Reports Largest Increase in Government Debt to GDP in EU at End of 2023

The share of European Union countries' public debt to their gross domestic product (GDP) decreased to 81.7% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, down from 82.4% in the previous quarter and down from 83.4% at the end of 2022, indicated the latest data from the European statistical agency Eurostat, published on Monday. The decrease in eurozone countries was  from 90.8% to 88.6% year-on-year.

At the end of the  fourth quarter of 2023, the lowest ratio of government debt to gross domestic product (GDP) among EU countries was recorded in Estonia (19.6%), Bulgaria (23.1%), Luxembourg (25 .7%) and Denmark (29.3%).

The highest ratio of public debt to GDP at the end of March 2023 was registered in Greece (161.9%), Italy (137.3%), France (110.6%), Spain (107 .7%) and Belgium (105.2%).

Towards the end of the third quarter, at the end of 2023, 10 countries from the European Union reported  an increase in the ratio of government debt to GDP. The biggest increase in this indicator was Bulgaria (+2.1 percentage points), followed by Latvia (+1.6 percentage points), Finland (+1.5 percentage points), Estonia (+1.4 percentage points) , Sweden (+1.2 percentage points) and Poland (+1 percentage point).

The biggest decrease in the ratio of public debt to GDP among EU countries during this period was registered in Portugal (-8.4 percentage points), Greece (-3.7 percentage points), Slovenia (-2.6 percentage points), Belgium (-2.4 percentage points), Slovakia (-2.3 percentage points) and Spain (-2.1 percentage points).