Romania: One of the highest increases in public debt in the EU

Last year, Romania recorded one of the highest increases in public debt among EU countries.

However, Romania has one of the lowest debts in the European Union, about 30 percent below average.

Romania has a public debt of 53.1% of GDP, while the European average is 81.6%.

Last year, from the second quarter to the third quarter, EU countries saw their public debt increase by 0.1% on average.

Romania, on the other hand, had the second-highest increase in public debt, by two percentage points. Ahead of Romania is Bulgaria, with an increase of 2.4 percentage points.

After Romania are countries like Finland, France and Latvia, where the increase in public debt does not exceed 1.4% of GDP.

On the other hand, 14 EU countries have seen their public debt fall.

Portugal has the biggest reduction, 3.2 points, followed by Slovenia - 2.6 and Malta - 1.8. If we compare the third quarter of last year with the third quarter of 2023, we see that 16 countries have seen an increase in public debt and 11 have seen a decrease.

Among the countries where debt increased are Finland, Estonia, Poland, Austria and, in fifth place, Romania, with an increase of 3.6%. At the other end of the scale, Greece reduced its debt by 10%, followed by Portugal, by almost 9%.

Translated by: Radu Matei