Greek debt fell by 10 percentage points in the third quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, marking the largest contraction in the European Union.
According to Eurostat data, the percentage of Greek debt compared to gross domestic product continued to decrease and closed the gap with Italy, but is still by far the highest in the bloc. The country’s debt stood at 158.2% of GDP in the July-September 2024 period. In second place is Italian debt at 136.3% of GDP, and then French debt at 113.8% of GDP. The eurozone average is 88.2%.
Apart from Greece, Portugal (-8.8%) and Cyprus (-5.4% compared to the third quarter of 2023) also recorded a large annual decrease. However, Greece was also among the countries that showed the largest contraction on a quarterly basis. Specifically, in the third quarter, Greek debt decreased by 1.8% compared to the second quarter of 2024. Only two countries recorded a greater improvement than Greece – Portugal (-3.2%) and Slovenia (-2.6%).