TALLINN - Estonia had the third largest fiscal surplus among EU member states in 2005, according to revised figures published by Eurostat last week.
Only Denmark and Finland have higher surpluses. On average, EU countries had a government sector deficit of 2.3 percent of GDP and an average debt burden of 63.2 percent of GDP, the Estonian Finance Ministry said.
Estonia had a smaller public debt than any other member of the EU.
Seven of the 25 EU member states ran a government surplus last year, ranging from 0.1 percent to four percent of GDP. Estonia's government sector surplus in 2005 was 2.3 percent of GDP. The Danish ratio was four percent and the Finnish ratio 2.7 percent.
The reduction in Estonia's public debt to 4.5 percent of GDP last year meant that Estonia's debt burden was the EU's lowest. Other countries with low debt burdens were Luxembourg with 6.0 percent of GDP, Latvia with 12.1 percent and Lithuania with 18.7 percent.
