General Government’s deficit stayed within limits
According to adjusted data of Statistics Estonia, the Estonian general government sector deficit in 2008 was 2.7% and gross debt level was 4.6% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). General government budget’s deficit remained within the limits set out in the Maastricht Treaty.
In 2008, the total expenditures of the general government sector budget exceeded the revenues by 6.9 billion kroons. The central government sector deficit was 2.4% and the local governments’ sector deficit 0.6% of GDP. Surplused by 0.6 billion kroons the social security funds sector improved the general government deficit indicator by 0.3 percentage points.
The general government gross debt level increased in 2008 up to 11.6 billion kroons, growing by a quarter compared to the previous year. The central government’s debt level increased last year 35% compared to 2007, however, accounting for only one third of the general government sector’s total debt. In 2008, the total borrowing of the local governments sector increased to 8 billion kroons.
State and Local Governments’ debt levels, 2005–2008
This year Statistics Estonia recalculated the general government accounts data for the period 2004–2008 based on the accrual accounting methods and revised time-series of GDP aggregates starting from 1995, where additionally to the regular revision of the national accounts data, the calculations of actual and imputed rents were also revised. Therefore the adjusted data for general government debt and budget’s surplus/deficit published in this news release are not entirely comparable with the preliminary data published by Statistics Estonia at the end of March.