Eurostat published data on Monday that revealed Finland had the highest level of public debt in Europe last year. With a debt ratio of 75.8 percent, Finland’s public debt amounted to 210.5 billion euros, which is higher than in any other member state. The country’s debt ratio increased by 2.3 percentage points from the previous year, making it the most significant increase among all EU member states.
To address this issue, the government recently unveiled a plan to balance public finances next year through spending cuts of approximately 1.4 billion euros and tax reductions of the same amount. Public debt refers to the debt owed by public entities to other sectors of the national economy and foreign countries.
Finland was not alone in its struggles with indebtedness as Latvia, Romania, Estonia, Luxembourg, and Belgium also experienced significant increases in their debt ratios last year. However, overall debt ratios for EU member states decreased by 1.7 percentage points to 81.7 percent last year, while euro countries saw a decrease of 2.3 percentage points to 88.6 percent.
The most heavily indebted euro countries last year were Greece (161.9%), Italy (137.3%), France (110.6%), Spain (107.7%), and Belgium (105.2%). On the other hand, Portugal, Greece, Belgium, Spain and France saw decreases in their debt ratios last year. Despite these differences in levels of indebtedness across Europe, it is clear that managing public finances remains a pressing challenge for many member states.
Estonia had the lowest debt ratio at the end of last year at just 19.6%. Overall these findings highlight the varying levels of public debt across European Union member states.
In conclusion, Finland faced a significant challenge with its high level of indebtedness in public finances last year compared to other EU member states; however, they are not alone in this struggle as several other countries also experienced an increase in their debt ratios during this period.
