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Romania ranks fifth in the top EU countries with the largest government deficit in 2020
In 2020, the government deficit of both the euro area and the EU increased significantly compared with 2019, as did the government debt, in the context of the measures undertaken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio rose from 0.6% in 2019 to 7.2% in 2020, and in the EU from 0.5% to 6.9%.
In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio increased from 83.6% at the end of 2019 to 97.3% at the end of 2020, and in the EU from 77.2% to 90.1%. In this release, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, is providing government deficit and debt data for the years 2017-2020 based on figures reported by EU Member States in the second notification in 2021, for the application of the excessive deficit procedure (EDP). This notification is based on the ESA 2010 system of national accounts. This release also includes data on government expenditure and revenue.
In 2020, all Member States reported a deficit. The highest deficits were recorded in Spain (-11.0%), Greece (-10.1%), Malta (-9.7%), Italy (-9.6%), Romania (-9.4%), Belgium and France (both -9.1%), Austria (-8.3%), Hungary (-8.0%), Slovenia (-7.7%), Croatia (-7.4%), Lithuania (-7.2%) and Poland (-7.1%). All Member States, except Denmark (-0.2%) and Sweden (-2.8%), had deficits higher than 3% of GDP.
At the end of 2020, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (19.0%), Bulgaria (24.7%), Luxembourg (24.8%), Czechia (37.7%) and Sweden (39.7%). Thirteen Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP, with the highest registered in Greece (206.3%), Italy (155.6%), Portugal (135.2%), Spain (120.0%), Cyprus (115.3%), France (115.0%) and Belgium (112.8%).
In 2020, government expenditure in the euro area was equivalent to 53.8% of GDP and government revenue to 46.6%. The figures for the EU were 53.1% and 46.3%, respectively. In both zones, the government expenditure ratio increased significantly, while the government revenue ratio increased only slightly.