Notification of general government deficit and debt according to the excessive deficit procedure - Years 2017-2020

In this release, Istat provides government deficit and debt data based on figures reported in the second 2021 notification by Italy to the EC for the years 2017-2020, for the application of the excessive deficit procedure (EDP). This notification is based on the ESA 2010 system of national accounts. No reservations have been expressed by Eurostat on the data reported by Italy.

The data published today are the same as those disseminated in the press release of 5 October last Quarterly non-financial accounts of General Government, income and savings of households and profits of non-financial corporations.

Istat also provides information on the underlying government sector accounts, as well as on the contribution of deficit/surplus and other relevant factors to the variation in the debt level (stock-flow adjustment).

According to the Protocol on the excessive deficit procedure annexed to the EC Treaty, government deficit (surplus) means the net borrowing (net lending) of the whole general government sector (central government, state government, local government and social security funds). It is calculated according to national accounts concepts (European System of Accounts, ESA 2010). Government debt is the consolidated gross debt of the whole general government sector outstanding at the end of the year (at face value). For further references see the “Manual on government deficit and debt – Implementation of ESA 2010“, 2019 edition:

The government deficit-to-GDP ratio increases from 1.5% in 2019 to 9.6% in 2020. The primary balance as a percentage of GDP is -6.1% in 2020, down by 7.9 percentage points with respect to 2019.

The government debt-to-GDP ratio is 155.6% at the end of 2020, increasing of 21.3 percentage points with respect to 2019. Data concerning the general government debt are compiled and disseminated by the Bank of Italy.