ZAGREB, October 22, 2020 - Croatia and 16 other EU member states recorded a budget surplus in 2019 but the public debt was above the prescribed upperlimit of 60% of GDP, shows a second Eurostat estimate released on Thursday.

The EU27 in 2019 recorded an average budget deficit of 0.5% of GDP, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous estimate, released in April.

In 2018 the deficit was 0.4%.

The euro area saw a budget deficit of 0.6% of GDP in 2019 and of 0.5% in 2018, which confirms the previous estimate, released in April.

Budget revenue expressed as a share in GDP was 46.1% in 2019 in the EU while budget expenses accounted for 46.7% of GDP.

In the euro area budget revenue was 46.4% and expenses 47.1% of GDP, Eurostat said.

Denmark has highest surplus

A total of 17 EU countries recorded a budget surplus, with Denmark reporting the highest, of 3.8%, followed by Luxembourg (2.5%), Bulgaria (1.9%) and the Netherlands (1.7%).

A budget surplus of below one percent was reported by a group of countries led by Austria, which reported a budget surplus of 0.7%.

Croatia had a general government surplus of 0.4% of GDP, with the surplus rising by HRK 112 million to HRK 962 million. In 2018 the share of the budget surplus in GDP was 0.2%.

A budget deficit at the upper allowed limit of 3% of GDP was reported by France, while Romania exceeded it with a budget deficit of 4.4%.

EU, euro area debt down in 2019

In the EU27 the public debt, expressed as a share in GDP, in 2019 dropped to 77.6% from 79.6% in 2018, with the April estimate having been slightly revised down.

In the euro area the public debt in 2019 was 84% of GDP, which confirms the April estimate.

As for 2018, the estimate was revised slightly up, to 85.8% of GDP.

Public debt highest in Greece

A total of 11 EU countries in 2019 crossed the upper allowed level of debt expressed as a share in GDP of 60%.

The highest debt to GDP ratio was reported by Greece, 180.5%, Italy, 134.7%, and Portugal, 117.2%.

Croatia's debt-to-GDP ratio in 2019 was 72.8% or HRK 292.9 billion. In April the share of debt was estimated at 73.2% of GDP and the debt amounted to 293.02 billion.

In 2018 Croatia's public debt totalled 74.3% of GDP, shows the latest estimate. In April it was estimated at 74.7%.

In 2019 Estonia had the lowest debt-to-GDP ratio, of 8.4%.

At the end of the first quarter of this year public debt amounted to 38.44 billion Euro, or 626 million Euro less than at the same time last year

A new winter sport in Zagreb: watch the public debt rise in real time.