(Finance) – According to the latest data published by Eurostat at the end of the first quarter of 2024 the gross public debt/GDP ratio in the euro area (AE20) it was at88.7%slightly up from 88.2% recorded at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023. Even taking into account the European Union as a whole, the ratio increased from 81.5% to 82.0%. Compared to the first quarter of 2023, however, the public debt-to-GDP ratio decreased both in the euro area (from 90.1% to 88.7%) and in the EU (from 83% to 82%).
The statistical office of the European Union reports that at the end of the first quarter of 2024, general government debt was composed of 83.9% of debt securities in the euro area and from 83.4% in the EU, from 13.6% in loans in the Eurozone and from 14% in the EU and from 2.6% in currency And deposits both in the euro area and in the EU.
Greece (159.8%), Italy (137.7%), France (110.8%), Spain (108.9%), Belgium (108.2%) and Portugal (100.4%) are the countries with the highest public debt/GDP ratio at the end of the first quarter of this year, while the lowest were recorded in Bulgaria (22.6%), Estonia (23.6%) and Luxembourg (27.2%).
Compared to the fourth quarter of 2023, twenty Member States recorded an increase in their debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2024, only seven of which managed to reduce it. The largest increases in the ratio were observed in Slovakia (+4.6 pp), Estonia (+4.0 pp), Belgium (+3.1 pp), Romania (+2.8 pp), Hungary (+2.5 pp) and Austria (+2.1 pp). The largest reductions were instead recorded in Greece (-2.1 pp), Cyprus And Netherlands (both -1.2 pp).
Compared to the first quarter of 2023, twelve Member States recorded an increase in their debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2024, fourteen Member States a decrease, while the ratio remained stable in Ireland. The largest increases in the ratio were recorded in Estonia (+6.3 pp), Finland (+4.2 pp), Poland (+3.3 pp), Slovakia (+2.7 pp), Romania (+2.2 pp), Lithuania (+2.1 pp) and Belgium (+2.0 pp). The largest decreases were observed in Portugal (-12 pp), Greece (-9.6 pp), Cyprus (-6.8 pp) and Croatia (-5.3 pp).
(Photo: Jess47200)