In 2015, the government deficit and debt of both the euro area (EA19) and the EU28 decreased in relative terms compared with 2014.
Article continues below
In the euro area the government deficit to GDP ratio fell from 2.6% in 2014 to 2.1% in 2015, and in the EU28 from 3.0% to 2.4%. In the euro area the government debt to GDP ratio declined from 92.0% at the end of 2014 to 90.4% at the end of 2015, and in the EU28 from 86.7% to 85.0%.
In this release, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, is providing government deficit and debt data based on figures reported in the second 2016 notification by EU Member States for the years 2012-2015, 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 2015, Luxembourg (+1.6%), Germany (+0.7%), Sweden (+0.2%) and Estonia (+0.1%) registered a government surplus. The lowest government deficits as a percentage of GDP were recorded in Lithuania (-0.2%), the Czech Republic (-0.6%), Romania (-0.8%) and Austria (-1.0%).
Six Member States had deficits equal to or higher than 3% of GDP: Greece (-7.5%), Spain (-5.1%), Portugal (-4.4%), the United Kingdom (-4.3%), France (-3.5%) and Croatia (-3.3%).
At the end of 2015, the lowest ratios of government debt to GDP were recorded in Estonia (10.1%), Luxembourg (22.1%), Bulgaria (26.0%), Latvia (36.3%) and Romania (37.9%).
Seventeen member states had government debt ratios higher than 60% of GDP, with the highest registered in Greece (177.4%), Italy (132.3%), Portugal (129.0%), Cyprus (107.5%) and Belgium (105.8%).
In 2015, government expenditure in the euro area was equivalent to 48.5% of GDP and government revenue to 46.5%. The figures for the EU28 were 47.3% and 44.9% respectively.
In both zones, the government expenditure and government revenue ratios decreased between 2014 and 2015. ■
New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced that AgriAmerica Fruit Products has completed the revitalization and upgrade of a 69,000-square-foot grape juice processing facility located at 200 Water Street in the Village of Fredonia.