Bulgaria has the highest debt-to-GDP growth in the European Union – Finance

Bulgaria turned out to be the country with the highest debt-to-GDP growth in the EU on an annual basis for 2023, according to Eurostat data announced today.

At the end of 2023, ten member states of the European Union (EU) have registered an increase in the public debt/gross domestic product (GDP) ratio, and 17 countries – a decrease. The largest increase in the ratio compared to the third quarter of last year was registered in our country (+2.1 percentage points – p.p.). Followed by Latvia (+1.6 pp), Finland (+1.5 pp), Estonia (+1.4 pp), Sweden (+1.2 pp) and Poland (+1.0 p.p.).

Bulgaria’s debt for 2023 has reached BGN 42.383 billion, or 23.1 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), having grown from 22.6% of GDP in 2022, when it amounted to 37.851 billion BGN. This is clear from the data of the National Statistical Institute, announced almost at the same time as those of Eurostat.

At the same time, the budget deficit in 2023 in the “State Government” sector was in the amount of BGN 3.454 billion, which is equal to 1.9% of the country’s GDP after a deficit of 2.9% of GDP in 2022. (deficit in the amount of BGN 4.863 billion)

The deficit in the “Central Government” sub-sector was BGN 3.375 billion (-1.8% of GDP), in the “Local Government” sub-sector a deficit of BGN 201 million was realized, and in the “Social Insurance Funds” sub-sector it was realized a surplus of BGN 121 million, the data of the national statistics also show.

In the EU, the largest decrease in debt was reported in Portugal (-8.4 pp), Greece (-3.7 pp), Slovenia (-2.6 pp), Belgium (- 2.4 p.p.), Slovakia (-2.3 p.p.), Spain (- 2.1 p.p.), Cyprus (-1.7 p.p.), Hungary (-1, 5 pp) and France (-1.4 pp).

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, the ratio of gross government debt to GDP in the euro area (EA20) stood at 88.6%, compared with 89.6% at the end of the third quarter of 2023. In the EU, the ratio also decreased from 82 .4% to 81.7%, according to the data of the European Statistical Office.

Compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, the government debt-to-GDP ratio has decreased in both the euro area (from 90.8% to 88.6%) and the EU (from 83.4% to 81.7%). At the same time, the debt of the General Government sector consisted of 83.4% of debt securities in the euro area and 82.9% in the EU, 13.8% loans in the euro area and 14.4% in the EU, as well as 2, 8% currency and deposits in the Eurozone and 2.7% in the EU.