The government debt to GDP ratio fell in both the EU and the euro area in the second quarter of 2022 thanks to the recovery of the economy from the COVID-19 crisis, and Croatia was again among the countries with the largest decreases, a Eurostat report showed on Friday.

At the end of June 2022, the government debt to GDP ratio stood at 86.4% in the EU, down from 87.5% in the previous quarter, while in the euro area it decreased from 95.2% to 94.2%.

At the end of June 2021, the ratio was 90.5% in the EU, while in the euro area it was almost equal to the GDP.

The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the second quarter of 2022 were recorded in Greece (182.1%), Italy (150.2%), Portugal (123.4%), Spain (116.1%), France (113.1%) and Belgium (108.3%), and the lowest in Estonia (16.7%), Bulgaria (21.3%) and Luxembourg (25.4%).

In Croatia, consolidated general government debt reached HRK 343.72 billion at the end of the second quarter of 2022, which was 74.3% of GDP. At the end of the first quarter, it was HRK 342.7 billion, or 77.3% of GDP.

At the end of June 2021, Croatia’s government debt totalled HRK 341.5 billion, which was 86.3% of GDP.

Closest to Croatia was Slovenia, with a government debt to GDP ratio of 73.5%.

Compared with the first quarter of 2022, three member states registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the second quarter of 2022 and twenty-four a decrease.

Increases in the ratio were observed in Luxembourg (+2.8 percentage points – pp), Czechia (+0.6 pp) and the Netherlands (+0.1 pp), while the largest decreases were recorded in Cyprus (-6.8 pp), Greece (-6.3 pp), Croatia (-3.0 pp), Malta (-2.3 pp), Italy (-1.9 pp) and Ireland (-1.8 pp).

Compared with the second quarter of 2021, four member states registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the second quarter of 2022 and twenty-three member states a decrease.

Increases in the ratio were recorded in Romania (+1.4 pp), Czechia (+0.9 pp), Hungary (+0.6 pp) and Slovakia (+0.1 pp), while the largest decreases were observed in Greece (-25.4 pp), Cyprus (-14.4 pp), Croatia (-12.0 pp), Portugal (-10.8 pp), Denmark (-8.2 pp), Ireland (-7.5 pp), Spain (-7.0 pp) and Slovenia (-6.5 pp).