Euro area's government debt/GDP ratio falls to 93% in Q3 2022

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) – The government debt-to-GDP ratio in the eurozone decreased to 93% at the end of the third quarter of 2022, the EU statistical office Eurostat reported on Monday.

The figure was down from 94.2% at the end of the second quarter of 2022 and 97.3% in the third quarter of 2021.

The decline was due to a hike in GDP outweighing the increase in government debt in absolute terms, according to Eurostat.

In the EU, the government debt-to-GDP ratio slipped to 85.1% at the end of the July-September period, from 86.4% in the previous quarter.

Greece had the highest government debt-to-GDP ratio of 178.2%, followed by Italy at 147.3%, Portugal (120.1%), Spain (115.6%), and France (113.4%).

The lowest ratios were seen in Estonia (15.8%), Bulgaria (23.1%), and Luxembourg (24.6%).

Four member states saw a quarter-on-quarter rise in the ratio, while there was a decrease in 23 countries.

In the eurozone, the seasonally adjusted general government deficit-to-GDP ratio climbed to 3.3% in the third quarter of 2022, a separate Eurostat report said.

It stood at 3.2% in the EU, according to the bloc’s statistical office.

The surge was led by policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, although to a lesser degree than in previous quarters, and high energy prices that had a stronger impact on the government balance in the third quarter of 2022, the report said.​​​​​​​