Eurostat confirms Malta registered biggest budget surplus in EU

In 2017, the government deficit and debt of both the euro area (EA19) and the EU28 decreased in relative terms compared with 2016. In the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio fell from 1.6% in 2016 to 1.0% in 2017, and in the EU28 from 1.7% to 1.0%.

In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio declined from 89.1% at the end of 2016 to 86.8% at the end of 2017, and in the EU28 from 83.3% to 81.6%.

In 2017, Malta (+3.5%), Cyprus (+1.8%), Sweden (+1.6%), Czechia (+1.5%), Luxembourg (+1.4%), the Netherlands (+1.2%), Bulgaria and Denmark (both +1.1%), Germany (+1.0%), Croatia (+0.9%), Greece (+0.8%), Lithuania (+0.5%) and Slovenia (+0.1%) registered a government surplus.

The lowest government deficits as a percentage of GDP were recorded in Ireland (-0.2%), Estonia (-0.4%), Latvia (-0.6%) and Finland (-0.7%). Two Member States had deficits equal to or higher than 3% of GDP: Spain (-3.1%) and Portugal (-3.0%). At the end of 2017, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (8.7%), Luxembourg (23.0%), Bulgaria (25.6%), Czechia (34.7%), Romania (35.1%) and Denmark (36.1%).

Fifteen Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP, with the highest registered in Greece (176.1%), Italy (131.2%), Portugal (124.8%), Belgium (103.4%), France (98.5%) and Spain (98.1%). In 2017, government expenditure in the euro area was equivalent to 47.0% of GDP and government revenue to 46.1%. The figures for the EU28 were 45.8% and 44.8% respectively. In both zones the government expenditure ratio decreased between 2016 and 2017, while the government revenue ratio increased.