Austria reports a small budget more

Austria reports a small budget more

VIENNA. Austria is out of the red in the second quarter of this year.

Positive numbers reported Picture: Wodicka

According to the latest data from the Statistical Office of the EU, Eurostat, a budget surplus of 1.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) was generated between April and June 2018. During the same period from the previous year, the government deficit was still 1.9% of GDP.

Statistics Austria reported a deficit of 0.7% for Brussels for the whole of 2017 (Maastricht notification, March 2018).

The positive budget figures for the second quarter of 2018 concerned 13 EU Member States. The highest budget surpluses were recorded in Malta (4.9%), Latvia (2.5%), Germany (2.4%) and Luxembourg (2.3%). Next come the Netherlands (2.1%), Bulgaria and the Czech Republic (1.5% each) and Sweden (1.3%). Austria, at 1.2%, shares Lithuania, ahead of Slovenia (0.9%), Belgium (0.7%) and Estonia (0.5%). The least important was Portugal (-2.7%), ahead of France (-2.5%).

Decreased debt ratio

The debt ratio of Austria fell to 76.5% of GDP in the second quarter of the year. During the same period in 2017, it was still 81.0%. In the euro area, debt levels fell from 89.2% to 86.3% year-on-year.

In addition, Greece is the most heavily indebted mountain with 179.7%. More than a year ago, from April to June 2017, it accounted for "only" 176.1% of GDP. The second most indebted country (133.1%) is Italy.

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