ECONOMY: Cyprus records largest EU fall in public debt

Public debt in Cyprus recorded the biggest annual drop in the EU falling 11.3 points from 106% of GDP last year to 94.7% in Q1 2018, according to Eurostat.

Government debt levels declined form €19.548 bln in Q1 2017 to €18.725 bln in Q4 2017 and €18.451 bln in Q1 2018, an -11.3 points annual drop, or -2.8 points on a quarterly basis.

After Cyprus the largest annual decreases were recorded in Ireland (-6.5 pp), Croatia (-6.4 pp), Malta (-6.2 pp) and Slovenia (-5.3 pp).

Only austerity hit Greece (+2.7 pp) registered an increase in its debt to GDP ratio at the end of Q1 2018.

The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of March were in Greece (180.4%), Italy (133.4%) and Portugal (126.4%).

The lowest were in Estonia (8.7%), Luxembourg (22.2%) and Bulgaria (24.1%).

Compared with Q4 2017, 12 Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of Q1, 2018, and 16 a decrease.

The highest quarterly increases in the ratio were recorded in Belgium (+2.9 percentage points), Greece (+1.8 pp), Italy (+1.6 pp), Slovenia (+1.4 pp) and the Czech Republic (+1.1 pp).

The largest decreases were recorded in Latvia (-4.4 pp), Lithuania (-3.5 pp), Cyprus (-2.8 pp) and Sweden (-2.6 pp).

At the end of Q1 2018, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA19) stood at 86.8%, compared with 86.7% at the end of Q4 2017. In the EU28, the ratio decreased from 81.6% to 81.5%. Compared with Q1 2017.

At the end of March, debt securities accounted for 80.8% of euro area and for 81.7% of EU28 general government debt. Loans made up 16.2% and 14.2% respectively and currency and deposits represented 3.0% of euro area and 4.1% of EU28 government debt.