Eurozone government deficit increased in 2019 - Eurostat

According to the report from Eurostat, in 2019, the government deficit of both the euro area (EA19) and the EU27 increased in relative terms compared with 2018, while the government debt declined in both zones. In the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio rose from 0.5% in 2018 to 0.6% in 2019, and in the EU27 from 0.4% to 0.6%. In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio decreased from 85.8% at the end of 2018 to 84.1% at the end of 2019, and in the EU27 from 79.6% to 77.8%.

In 2019, Denmark (+3.7%), Luxembourg (+2.2%), Bulgaria (+2.1%), Cyprus and the Netherlands (both +1.7%), Greece (+1.5%), Germany (+1.4%), Austria (+0.7%), Malta, Slovenia and Sweden (all +0.5%), Ireland and Croatia (both +0.4%), Czechia and Lithuania (both +0.3%), and Portugal (+0.2%) registered a government surplus. Two Member States had deficits equal to or higher than 3% of GDP: France (-3.0%) and Romania (-4.3%).

At the end of 2019, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (8.4%), Bulgaria (20.4%), Luxembourg (22.1%), Czechia (30.8%) and Denmark (33.2%). Eleven Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP, with the highest registered in Greece (176.6%), Italy (134.8%), Portugal (117.7%), Belgium (98.6%), France (98.1%), Spain and Cyprus (both 95.5%).

In 2019, government expenditure in the euro area was equivalent to 47.1% of GDP and government revenue to 46.5%. The figures for the EU27 were 46.7% and 46.2% respectively.