RIGA, April 20 (Xinhua) -- In 2017, Latvia's general government budget ran a deficit of 131.1 million euros, or 0.5 percent of the Baltic country's GDP, according to provisional data released Friday by the national statistics office.
Latvia's government debt expanded by 700 million euros or 6.8 percent over the past year to 10.8 billion euros in 2017, which was 40.1 percent of GDP, the statistics office said.
In line with EU regulations, Latvia submits its Notification on General Government Budget Deficit and Debt to the European Commission twice a year -- by April 1 and October 1.
The data is used to assess each EU member states' compliance with the Maastricht Treaty, according to which the deficit of the general government budget has to be kept under 3 percent of GDP and government debt must not be wider than 60 percent of GDP at current prices.
The preliminary results for 2017 show that a surplus was only achieved in Latvia's social security budget, while the central and local governments spent more than they earned last year.
According to the Treasury of Latvia, whose budget estimates are based on operating cash flow data, Latvia's 2017 budget deficit, totaled 221.7 million euros, was by 90.6 million euros larger than that calculated by the national statistics office.
