Eurostat: Despite High Debt, Greece Sees Favorable Downward Debt-to-GDP Trends

Photo source: Eurostat

Greece, which still had the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the Eurozone at the end of the first quarter of 2024, also registered the greatest decrease of that ratio on a quarterly basis for the period, as well as the second largest decrease annually.

New data from Eurostat showed the average debt-to-GDP ratio in the Eurozone at the end of the first quarter of 2024 at 88.7 percent of member countries’ GDP, up from 88.2 percent at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023.

For the European Union as a whole, the percentages increased to 82 percent from 81.5 percent, respectively. However, on an annual basis from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024, the debt-to-GDP ratio in the Eurozone fell from 90.1 percent to 88.7 percent, and in the EU from 83 percent to 82 percent.

Greece: highest debt-to-GDP ratio with 159.8%

Among the EU countries, Greece maintained the highest debt-to-GDP ratio with 159.8 percent at the end of Q1 2024, followed by Italy with 137.7 percent, France in third place with 110.8 percent, Spain in fourth with 108.9 percent, Belgium with 108.2 percent, and Portugal with 100.4 percent. In contrast, Bulgaria, Estonia, and Luxembourg had the lowest debt-to-GDP ratios, with 22.6 percent, 23.6 percent, and 27.2 percent, respectively.

Greece: Greatest debt-to-GDP ratio decrease in the Eurozone

With the EU focusing on the importance of statistical data trends, it should be noted that Slovakia, Estonia, Belgium, Romania, Hungary, and Austria saw their debt-to-GDP ratios increase by between 4.6 and 2.1 percent on a quarterly basis.

In contrast, decreases were recorded in Greece (-2.1 pp), Cyprus and the Netherlands (both -1.2 pp), Sweden and Ireland (both -0.8 pp), Bulgaria (-0.5 pp) and Germany (-0.2 pp).

Greece: Second largest decrease in debt to GDP ratio annually

On an annual basis from Q1 2023 to Q1 2024, Portugal and Greece decreased their debt-to-GDP ratios by 12 percent and 9.6 percent, respectively, followed by Cyprus (6.8 percent), Croatia (5.3 percent), and the Netherlands (2.8 percent).

All data was released by Eurostat during the third week of July 2024.

Early debt repayment

Meanwhile, highlighting Greece’s recovery from the debt crisis, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis recently told Bloomberg that the country is planning to proceed with an early debt repayment of 8 billion euros.

According to the PM, the early repayment equals three years’ worth of debt installments and marks the third time that Greece is prepaying debt acquired during the first bailout program in 2010.

With the crisis behind and a safety net of available funds, Mitsotakis said his government would use 5 billion euros for the early repayment of part of the country’s debt.