According to data from the Czech Statistical Office (CSO), the government debt in the Czech Republic increased by CZK 548.6 billion in the 3rd quarter of last year, reaching CZK 2.983 trillion. This means that the debt ratio, which is the ratio of government debt to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has risen from 40.4% to 45.2%. Compared to the second quarter, the debt increased by CZK 187.5 billion, representing a 1.7 percentage point increase in the debt ratio.

Government institutions also managed a deficit of CZK 60.3 billion in the third quarter of last year which was CZK 17.4 billion higher than the same period in the previous year. This was mainly due to the performance of central government institutions such as ministries and central authorities whose deficit widened by CZK 24.4 billion year-on-year to CZK 69.5 billion. On the other hand, Local government institutions and social security funds which mainly comprise of health insurance companies ended in surplus. However, the surplus for local government fell from CZK 9.8 billion year-on-year to CZK 4.6 billion. The statistics also revealed that government institutions borrowed CZK 127.2 billion more than their financing needs.

Article by Prague Forum