General government account in 2018 The public deficit continues to shrink and accounted for 2.5% of GDP

In 2018, the public deficit as defined in the Maastricht Treaty amounts to €59.5 billion. It accounted for 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP), 0.3 points lower than last year’s level. Revenues are slowing down (+2.3% in current euros versus +3.8% in 2017) but remain more buoyant than expenditure (+1.9%). For the fourth consecutive year, the share of spending in GDP fell (–0.4 points). The government deficit worsens. By contrast, the surplus in the balance of social security administrations and local government keeps improving. The total tax burden shrinks by 0.2 points at 45.0% of GDP. The debt-to-GDP ratio remains stable at 98.4%.