Portugal achieves third largest surplus in the Eurozone in Q2
Among the Eurozone countries, only Greece and Latvia recorded surpluses higher than Portugal's in the second quarter. On the other hand, Spain and France had the largest deficits.
Portugal recorded a budget surplus of 1.9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the second quarter, placing it in third place among the Eurozone countries with the highest positive balance in that period, according to Eurostat data published on Tuesday.
The information compiled by the statistics agency reveals that the eurozone countries recorded a budget deficit of 2.5% of GDP in the second quarter, in line with the European Union average. Portugal is one of the few countries where the public accounts balance, not adjusted for seasonality, was in positive territory.
Only Greece (3.2% of GDP) and Latvia (2.3%) had a higher surplus than Portugal. On the other hand, Spain and France recorded the largest deficits in the second quarter, with ratios of 6.5% and 6%, respectively.
The positive balance in Portugal in the second quarter compares with 2.5% in the same period last year, according to data from the National Statistics Institute (INE). The balance of €1.412 billion contributed to the positive balance of 1% of GDP in the first half of this year.
Portuguese public debt is the sixth highest
Portugal has definitively left behind its place in the “top 3” countries with the highest public debt ratio, but still remains above the Eurozone average.
At the end of the second quarter of 2025, the public debt ratio in the Eurozone was 88.2%, up from 87.7% at the end of the first quarter of 2025.
The highest ratios to GDP were recorded in Greece (151.2%), Italy (138.3%), France (115.8%), Belgium (106.2%), Spain (103.4%) and Portugal (96.8%), and the lowest in Estonia (23.2%), Luxembourg (25.1%), Bulgaria (26.3%) and Denmark (29.7%).
