Notification of general government deficit and debt according to the excessive deficit procedure - Years 2022/2025

In this release, Istat provides government deficit and debt data based on figures reported in the first 2026 notificationby Italy to the EC[1] for the years 2022-2025, within 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 consistent with those released the 3^rd of April (“Conto trimestrale delle Amministrazioni pubbliche, reddito e risparmio delle famiglie e profitti delle società”). The version issued the 3^rd of April differs from the one published the 2^nd of March as it incorporates revisions for 2025 (a reduction in the deficit of 905 million) due to the acquisition of complete information on the tax credits Superbonus and Transition 5.0 as well as the expenditures financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), which became available only at the end of March. Despite these revisions, the government deficit to GDP ratio remains unchanged compared to the previous version.

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) refers to the net borrowing (net lending) of the whole general government sector (central government,  local government and social security funds). It is calculated according to national accounts principles and rules (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 2022 edition.

The government deficit to GDP ratio decreases from -3.4% in 2024 to -3.1% in 2025. The primary balance as a percentage of GDP is 0.8% in 2025, improving by 0.3 percentage points with respect to 2024. The government debt to GDP ratio is 137.1% at the end of 2025, increasing of 2.4 percentage points with respect to 2024. Data concerning the general government debt are compiled and disseminated by the Bank of Italy.

[1] Notification Tables concerning all EU Countries can be found on the Eurostat web page http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/government-finance-statistics/excessive-deficit-procedure/edp-notification-tables.