Stats: General Government Deficit Up to 5.5 percent of GDP in 2024

Bratislava, 20 October (TASR) - Slovakia's general government deficit in 2024 equalled 5.5 percent of the country's GDP, which was worse than in the spring estimate, the Statistics Office reported on Monday. Following the autumn revision, the deficit reached €7.2 billion, going up by €0.6 billion year-on-year (y-o-y). In 2023, the deficit amounted to €6.5 billion, making up 5.3 percent of GDP. "The absolute majority of last year's deficit was generated by the central state administration. It ended the year with a deficit of €7.4 billion, which was more than in 2023, when it showed a deficit of €6.9 billion," said the office. It was €255 million worse when compared to the first estimate from the spring of 2025. Local government ended last year with a deficit amounting to almost €102 million, which was a deterioration from 2023. Social-security funds posted a surplus amounting to €348 million, which was an improvement by €71 million when compared to 2023. The public debt reached €77.7 billion last year, making up 59.7 percent of GDP (following the autumn revision). The value of the public debt grew by €8.8 billion y-o-y. In 2023 the public debt accounted for 55.76 percent of GDP. Compared to the data published in April, the total sum of the so-called Maastricht debt for 2024 was affected by a debt update related to support of green energy production, which deepened the debt by €90.6 million. This change only concerned the year 2024. ko/df