Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1514895
13 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 24 JANUARY 2024 COMMERCIAL Government debt down to 89.9% of GDP in euro area AT the end of the third quarter of 2023, the general government gross debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA20) stood at 89.9%, compared with 90.3% at the end of the second quarter of 2023. In the EU, the ratio also decreased from 83.0% to 82.6%. Compared with the third quarter of 2022, the government debt to GDP ratio al- so decreased in both the euro area (from 92.2% to 89.9%) and the EU (from 84.6% to 82.6%). At the end of the third quarter of 2023, debt securities accounted for 83.6% of euro area and for 83.1% of EU general government debt. Loans made up 13.6% and 14.1% respectively and currency and de- posits represented 2.8% of both eu- ro area and EU government debt. Due to the involvement of EU Member States' governments in lending to certain Member States, quarterly data on intergovern- mental lending (IGL) are also pub- lished. The IGL as percentage of GDP at the end of the third quar- ter of 2023 stood at 1.5% in the eu- ro area and at 1.3% in the EU. These data are released by Eu- rostat, the statistical office of the European Union. Government debt The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the third quarter of 2023 were recorded in Greece (165.5%), Italy (140.6%), France (111.9%), Spain (109.8%), Belgium (108.0%) and Portugal (107.5%), and the lowest in Esto- nia (18.2%), Bulgaria (21.0%), Lux- embourg (25.7%), Sweden (29.7%) and Denmark (30.1%). Compared with the second quar- ter of 2023, nine Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2023 and eighteen a de- crease. The largest increases in the ratio were observed in Belgium (+2.1 percentage points – pp), Latvia (+1.9 pp), Slovenia (+1.0 pp) and Romania (+0.8 pp), while the larg- est decreases were recorded in Cy- prus (-5.6 pp), Luxembourg (-2.6 pp), Portugal (-2.5 pp), Croatia (-2.2 pp), Italy (-1.8 pp), Greece (-1.6 pp), Spain (-1.4 pp), the Netherlands and Slovakia (both -1.0 pp). Compared with the third quar- ter of 2022, eight Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2023 and nineteen Member States a decrease. Increases in the ratio were re- corded in Belgium (+2.5 pp), Es- tonia (+2.3 pp), Finland (+2.0 pp), Latvia (+1.3 pp), Slovakia, Roma- nia and Luxembourg, (all three +1.0 pp) as well as Lithuania (+0.4 pp). The largest decreases were observed in Greece (-12.0 pp), Portugal (-10.9 pp), Cyprus (-10.3 pp), Croatia (-5.5 pp), Ireland (-4.9 pp), Spain (-4.2 pp), Sweden (-4.0 pp), Austria (-3.1 pp) and Slovenia (-3.0 pp).