23.04.201905:57:00UTC+00Eurozone Govt. Deficit Narrows In 2018

The euro area government deficit narrowed at the end of 2018 as revenue increased amid a fall in expenditure, figures published by Eurostat showed Tuesday.

The general government deficit to GDP fell to 0.5 percent in 2018 from 1.0 percent in the previous year.

Data showed that government revenue rose slightly to 46.3 percent of GDP from 46.1 percent. On the other hand, government expenditure dropped to 46.8 percent from 47.0 percent in the previous year.

Among euro area economies, the highest budget surplus of 2.4 percent was recorded in Luxembourg. Bulgaria and Malta logged a surplus of 2.0 percent of GDP, while Germany's surplus was 1.7 percent.

The euro area government debt to GDP fell notably at the end of last year.

The government debt to GDP ratio declined to 85.1 percent at the end of 2018, from 87.1 percent in 2017.

The lowest ratio of government debt to GDP was recorded in Estonia, at 8.4 percent, followed by Luxembourg with 21.4 percent.