Public debt growth 7th-highest in EU

In 2020-22, during the pandemic and the energy crisis, Slovakia's public debt rose by 41% from €46.4bn to €65.3bn; in per capita terms, the debt rose from €8,600 to €12,000. The increase of 8.9% of GDP is the 7th-highest in the EU. The problem is that debt growth financed pensions and social benefits, while public investment was low and, moreover, continued to decline. In Czechia and Hungary, the public debt rose by 12% and 9% of GDP respectively, while in Poland by only 0.5% of GDP. Improvement is nowhere in sight, as Slovakia will post the highest public finance deficit in the EU this year.

(trend.sk)