In the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio fell from 2.6 percent in 2014 to 2.1 percent in 2015, and in the EU28 from 3 percent to 2.4 percent, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union informs.
In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio declined from 92 percent at the end of 2014 to 90.4 percent at the end of 2015, and in the EU28 from 86.7 percent to 85 percent.
Last year, the lowest government deficits as a percentage of GDP were recorded in Lithuania (-0.2 percent), the Czech Republic (-0.6 percent), Romania (-0.8 percent) and Austria (-1 percent). At the same time, Luxembourg (+1.6 percent), Germany (+0.7 percent), Sweden (+0.2 percent) and Estonia (+0.1 percent) registered a government surplus.
Six Member States had deficits equal to or higher than 3 percent of GDP: Greece (-7.5 percent), Spain (-5.1 percent), Portugal (-4.4 percent), the United Kingdom (-4.3 percent), France (-3.5 percent) and Croatia (-3.3 percent).
At the end of 2015, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (10.1 percent), Luxembourg (22.1 percent), Bulgaria (26 percent), Latvia (36.3 percent) and Romania (37.9 percent).
Seventeen Member States had government debt ratios higher than 60 percent of GDP, with the highest registered in Greece (177.4 percent), Italy (132.3 percent), Portugal (129 percent), Cyprus (107.5 percent) and Belgium (105.8 percent).
In 2015, government expenditure in the euro area was equivalent to 48.5 percent of GDP and government revenue to 46.5 percent. The figures for the EU28 were 47.3 percent and 44.9 percent respectively. In both zones, the government expenditure and government revenue ratios decreased between 2014 and 2015.