Lithuania’s budget deficit was the smallest in the Baltic States in the first quarter of 2026, according to Eurostat data, BNS reported. Lithuania’s budget deficit stood at 0.9% of GDP, which was down from 1.7% in the fourth quarter of 2025. Estonia’s budget deficit amounted 1.2% (1.3%) and Latvia’s to 1.9% (2.4%) of GDP. Meanwhile, Estonia’s public debt stood at EUR 10.646bn at the end of the first quarter of 2026, Eurostat reported. The country’s debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 25.2%, which was up from 24.1% a quarter earlier and up from 23.9% a year earlier, but still the lowest in the entire EU. Latvia’s government debt amounted to EUR 20.436bn. The ratio of government debt to GDP was 46.9%, which was unchanged compared to the fourth quarter of 2025 but up from 45.0% in the first quarter of 2025, LSM reported. Lithuania’s government debt totalled EUR 36.260bn. The country’s debt ratio was 42.3% of GDP, which was up from 39.5% in the fourth quarter of 2025 and the second-largest increase in the EU. In the first quarter of 2025, the debt-to-GDP ratio was 40.4%.
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