Deficit and debt of the general government

In national accounting, the concept of budget deficit is used when the State budget is in deficit: State revenues are lower than expenditures, and therefore the budgetary balance is negative (reimbursements of maturing loans are included in expenditures). Likewise, public administrations – which are greater than the State since these include territorial administrations and social security administrations – experience a public deficit when public expenditures on a year exceed public revenues; the balance of public finances is hence negative. Concretely, in the majority of countries public budgets (measured annually) are very often in deficit; in the opposite case, there is a budget surplus. A distinction is made between the primary deficit, which corresponds to the deficit calculated without taking into account the debt service (i.e. the interests paid on the debt and the part of loans to be reimbursed during the year) of the final deficit.

The Maastricht Treaty defines the general government as the entity comprising the central administration (State), local authorities (municipalities) as well as social security bodies (art. 104 of the EC Treaty).

For information related to EU Member states’ public debt, please consult the website of the EFC Sub-Committee on EU Sovereign Debt Markets.

Notification (as of 31.03.2024)