Last year, Croatia was among the EU member states with the government debt and budget deficit below the EU and euro area average, according to a Eurostat report released on Friday.

In 2021, the government deficit to GDP ratio in the EU was 4.6%, compared to 6.7% in 2020. In the euro area, this ratio was 5.1%, down from 7.0% in 2020.

Last year, the government debt to GDP ratio in the EU decreased by nearly two percentage points, to 87.9%.  In the euro area, it fell by 1.6 percentage points to 95.4%.

In 2021, all member states, except Denmark (+3.6%) and Luxembourg (+0.8%), reported a deficit.

The highest deficits were recorded in Malta (-7.8%), Greece (-7.5%), Italy (-7.2%), Hungary and Romania (both -7.1%), Latvia (-7.0%), Spain (-6.9%) and France (-6.5%). Fifteen member states had deficits higher than 3% of GDP. The lowest deficit was reported by Sweden (-0.1%).

Croatia ended last year with a consolidated general government deficit of HRK 11.34 billion, or 2.6% of GDP. In 2020, the deficit stood at HRK 27.79 billion, or 7.3% of GDP.

The same deficit was recorded by the Netherlands, and Finland was close with a deficit of 2.7%.

In 2021, 14 member states had government debt to GDP ratios above the prescribed ceiling of 60%.

The highest ratios were recorded in Greece (194.5%), Italy (150.3%), Portugal (125.5%), Spain (118.3%), France (112.8%), Belgium (109.2%) and Cyprus (101.0%), while the lowest were observed in Estonia (17.6%), Bulgaria (23.9%), Luxembourg (24.5%), Sweden (36.3%) and Denmark (36.6%).

Croatia’s consolidated general government debt in 2021 reached HRK 343.78 billion, which was 78.4% of GDP. In 2020, it was HRK 330.63 billion, or 87.0% of GDP.