The latest Eurostat report, published on 21 October 2015, provides a detailed overview of fiscal deficit and general government debt statistics within the European Union and Euro-zone member countries in 2014. As far as the last year is concerned, Hungary’s figures – deficit of 2.5 percent and general government debt-to-GDP ratio of 76.2 percent – are lower not only compared to the EU average but also in comparison to the average of the Euro-bloc.

Last year, the fiscal deficits of Euro-zone countries averaged 2.6 percent of GDP, while within the entire EU this indicator was 3.0 percent. The general government debt-to-GDP ratio averaged 92.1 percent among members of the monetary union, while it was 86.8 percent within the EU28. According to the report, the deficits of 14 member states exceeded 3 percent of GDP, while the debt ratio of 16 countries breached the 60 percent threshold. On the one hand, Denmark, Luxembourg, Estonia and Germany posted surpluses. On the other, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Cyprus, Ireland and Belgium all closed the year 2014 with debt ratios exceeding 100 percent of GDP.

As the above data demonstrate, Hungarian statistics are better than the averages of both the Euro-zone and the EU28. It has to be noted that while general government budget deficits and state debt ratios have typically increased in the past couple of years, Hungary has managed to improve both indicators. This confirms the success of Hungarian economic policy and the adequacy of the country’s responsible fiscal management.

(Ministry for National Economy)