Brussels, 22 April 2023 (MIA) - At the end of the fourth quarter of 2022, the general government gross debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 91.6%, compared with 93.0% at the end of the third quarter of 2022. In the EU, the ratio also decreased from 85.1% to 84.0%. Compared with the fourth quarter of 2021, the government debt to GDP ratio also decreased in both the euro area (from 95.5% to 91.6%) and the EU (from 88.0% to 84.0%), according to data released by Eurostat. 

Compared with the third quarter of 2022, seven Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022 and nineteen a decrease, while the ratio remained stable in Luxembourg. The largest increases in the ratio were observed in Estonia (+2.5 percentage points – pp), the Netherlands (+2.0 pp), Lithuania and Finland (both +1.1 pp), while the largest decreases were recorded in Portugal (-5.9 pp), Cyprus (-4.8 pp), Greece (-4.5 pp), Ireland (-4.4 pp) and Austria (-3.0 pp).

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2021, four Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the fourth quarter of 2022 and twenty three Member States a decrease. The increases in the ratio were recorded in Czechia (+2.1 pp), Estonia (+0.8 pp), Finland (+0.4 pp) and Luxembourg (+0.1 pp), while the largest decreases were observed in Greece (-23.3 pp), Cyprus (-14.7 pp), Portugal (-11.5 pp), Ireland (-10.7 pp), Croatia (-10.0 pp), Denmark (-6.6 pp), Italy (-5.5 pp), Lithuania (-5.3 pp), and Spain (-5.0 pp).

In absolute numbers, the general government gross debt in the EU in the fourth quarter of 2022 stands at EUR 13 272 709 million.