Brussels, 23rd July, 2025 (WAM) -- Belgium's public debt reached 106.8 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter of 2025, according to provisional figures released Tuesday by Eurostat.

Only Greece (152.5 percent), Italy (137.9 percent), and France (114.1 percent) have higher public debt levels.

The average public debt ratio for the eurozone is 88 percent, while for the European Union it stands at 81.8 percent.

Compared with the first quarter of 2024, 13 member states registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2025, while 12 member states registered a decrease, and the ratio remained stable in Slovenia and Estonia, according to the European statistics office.

The largest increases were observed in Poland (+6.1 percentage points), Finland (+5.1 pp), Austria and Romania (+4.1 pp each), France (+3.6 pp), Italy (+2.9 pp), Slovakia (+2.6 pp), and Sweden (+2.0 pp).

The largest decreases were recorded in Greece (-9.3 pp), Cyprus (-8.2 pp), Ireland (-6.1 pp), Croatia (-3.6 pp), Denmark (-3.2 pp), Spain (-2.8 pp), and Portugal (-2.7 pp).

In Belgium, the public debt-to-GDP ratio increased by 0.2 percentage points over the year.