The most common form of contingent liabilities in the EU countries is government guarantees on liabilities, and occasionally on assets of third parties. In 2020 and 2021, government guarantees, provided in the EU, increased substantially following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the level of government guarantees was further influenced by the energy crisis following Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. In 2023, there was a decrease of guarantees in most of the EU countries.
In 2023, the highest overall rate of government guarantees was recorded in the Netherlands (30.4% of GDP), Finland (17.9%), Italy (15.3%), Germany (14.6%) and France (13.5%). On the lower end of the scale, rates equal to or less than 1% of GDP were recorded in Ireland, Bulgaria, Czechia and Slovakia.
This information comes from data on contingent liabilities and non-performing loans published by Eurostat today. This article presents a handful of findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article on contingent liabilities and non-performing loans.
Source dataset: gov_cl_guar
Liabilities of public corporations highest in Germany
The level of public corporations’ liabilities classified outside general government in 2023 varied widely across EU countries. Significant amounts of liabilities were recorded in Germany (86.5% of GDP), ahead of the Netherlands (79.5%) and Greece (71.7%).
In contrast, the lowest liabilities of public corporations were recorded in Slovakia (3.7%), Spain (4.1%) and Cyprus (8.4%).
Source dataset: gov_cl_liab
Highest level of non-performing loans in Cyprus
In 2023, Cyprus was the country with the highest stock of non-performing loans (assets) of the general government, at 11.8% of GDP, followed by Croatia with a share of 0.9% and Spain 0.5%. For the remaining countries, the amounts were either very low or nearly zero.
Off-balance public-private partnerships liabilities: highest in Portugal
Liabilities related to off-balance public-private partnerships (PPPs) refer to long-term construction contracts where assets are recorded outside government accounts. In 2023, these were below 2% of GDP in all EU countries and 9 EU countries had no such liabilities. Portugal had the highest share (1.4% of GDP), followed by Slovakia (1.1%) and Latvia (0.7%). These PPP liabilities are predominantly due to motorway projects.
