At the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 95.6%, compared with 97.5% at the end of the third quarter of 2021, according to data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
In the EU, the ratio also decreased from 89.9% at the end of third quarter to 88.1% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021.
The government debt to GDP ratio in Cyprus decreased by 5.4 percentage points compared to the third quarter of 2021, and by 11.4 percentage points compared to the end of the fourth quarter of 2020.
For the euro area, the decrease in government debt to GDP ratio is due to an increase in GDP and a slight decrease in the nominal debt in absolute terms, while for the EU the nominal debt continued to increase slightly but was outweighed by the increase in GDP.
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2020, the government debt to GDP ratio decreased in both the euro area (from 97.2% to 95.6%) and the EU (from 90.0% to 88.1%). The decreases are due to the increases in GDP outweighing the increase in government debt.
At the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, debt securities accounted for 82.6% of euro area and for 82.3% of EU general government debt. Loans made up 14.2% and 14.7% respectively and currency and deposits represented 3.1% of euro area and 3.0% of EU government debt.
Due to the involvement of EU Member States’ governments in financial assistance to certain Member States, quarterly data on intergovernmental lending (IGL) are also published by Eurostat. The share of IGL as percentage of GDP at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 accounted for 1.8% in the euro area and to 1.6% in the EU.
The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 were recorded in Greece (193.3%), Italy (150.8%), Portugal (127.4%), Spain (118.4%), France (112.9%), Belgium (108.2%) and Cyprus (103.6%), over the EU average.
The rest of the member states had ratios lower than the EU average. The lowest were recorded in Estonia (18.1%), Luxembourg (24.4%) and Bulgaria (25.1%).
Compared with the third quarter of 2021, seven Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, nineteen a decrease, while the ratio remained stable in Germany.
Increases in the ratio were observed in Slovakia (1.8 percentage points), Czechia (1.5 pp), Latvia (1.3 pp), Bulgaria (0.9 pp), Romania (0.6 pp), Malta (0.4 pp) and Sweden (0.3 pp).
The largest decreases were recorded in Greece (8.3 pp), Cyprus (5.4 pp), Slovenia (5.0 pp) and Italy (3.8 pp).
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2020, seven Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021 and twenty Member States a decrease.
Increases in the ratio were recorded in Czechia (4.2 pp), Malta (3.6 pp), Slovakia (3.3 pp), Romania (1.6 pp), Latvia (1.5 pp), Germany (0.6 pp) and Bulgaria (0.4 pp).
The largest decreases were observed in Greece (13.1 pp), Cyprus (11.4 pp), Portugal (7.8 pp), Croatia (7.5 pp), Denmark (5.4 pp) and Slovenia (5.1 pp).
Source: Cyprus News Agency