Almost all EU countries in 2020 exceeded the allowed budget deficits due to measures designed to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Eurostat says, putting Croatia in a group of countries with the highest deficit expressed as the share of deficit in GDP.

In the EU, the budget deficit rose in 2020 to 6.9% from 0.5% the year before.

In the euro area it grew to 7.2% from 0.6% in 2019.

Public debt, expressed as the ratio of government debt to GDP, grew in the EU to 90.7% from 77.6% in 2019.

In the euro area, public debt grew to become almost the same as GDP, jumping to 98%. In 2019 it was 84%.

This year, due to the pandemic, the EU suspended regulations under which the deficit to GDP ratio in member states should not exceed 3% and the public debt to GDP ratio 60%.

Spain has highest deficit

Almost all EU countries in 2020 exceeded the upper limit of the allowed budget deficit of 3%, with the exception of Denmark, which reported a deficit of 1.1% of GDP.

The highest deficit was reported by Spain, of 11%, followed by Malta, Greece and Italy, with deficits of 10.1%, 9.7% and 9.5% respectively. Belgium was close with 9.4%, followed by France and Romania with 9.2% each. Austria reported a deficit of slightly below 9%.

In Slovenia and Hungary the budget deficit was 8.4% and 8.1% of GDP respectively.

Croatia’s budget deficit was 7.4% or HRK 27.5 billion. Lithuania had the same deficit while Poland had a deficit of 7%.

In 2019 Croatia reported a general government budget surplus of 0.3%, or HRK 1.2 billion.

Greece has highest public debt

As for public debt, 14 EU countries exceeded the upper limit of 60% of GDP.

Public debt was highest in Greece, twice as high as the country’s GDP. It is followed by Italy, with a debt to GDP ratio of 155.8%, Portugal, with a 133.6% ratio and Spain, with a debt to GDP ratio of 120%.

Cyprus reported a debt to GDP ratio of 118.2%, followed by France and Belgium with 115.7% and 114.1% respectively.

Croatia’s 2020 public debt was 88.7% of GDP, or HRK 329.7 billion. In 2019, the debt was HRK 292.9 billion or 72.8% of GDP.

The lowest debt to GDP ratio in 2020 was reported by Estonia, 18.2%, followed by Luxembourg and Bulgaria, with 24.9% and 25% respectively.