Despite having a lower debt ratio than the EU average, Finland’s public finances have become more indebted than any other member state in the European Union. The ratio between Finland’s public debt and gross domestic product increased by 2.3 percentage points to 75.8 percent last year, the largest figure in the EU.
Last year, the euro area’s debt ratio was 88.6 percent while the EU’s was 81.7 percent. Among EU member states, Sweden, Denmark, and Estonia had the lowest debt ratios while Greece and Italy had the highest. The largest deficits were in Italy, Hungary, and Romania with Finland’s deficit at 2.7 percent. The combined deficit of the euro area and the EU was 3.6 percent and 3.5 percent respectively.
Despite this increase, Finland’s debt ratio is still lower than the EU average, but it grew faster than any other member country last year according to data published by the European Commission. To address this issue next year, Finnish government has announced plans to balance public finances through cuts and tax cuts as reported by Helsingin Sanomat earlier this week
