The debt reduction for 2019 is foreseen by the State Treasury, as is evident from the preliminary draft state budget. For the first time in recent years, general government debt is projected to drop to EUR 329.3 billion, down from the EUR 334.57 billion in 2018.

In terms of GDP, in fact, the decline will be very large as the rate is 181.1% from its historical high of 2018 and is expected to fall to 173.3% in 2019. As for 2020, a slight increase of the debt in absolute numbers (from EUR 329.3 billion to EUR 331 billion) is foreseen, but it will continue to fall as a proportion of GDP. Thus, by 2020, debt will stand at 167.8% of GDP, which will rise to EUR 197.315 billion versus EUR 190.004 billion, as a result of the strong growth rate estimate of 2.8%.

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