Poland’s public finance deficit amounted to as much as 6.6 percent of GDP in 2024, and public debt increased to 55.3 percent of GDP, nominally exceeding PLN 2 trillion (€466 million).
As reported by the Central Statistical Office on Tuesday, the deficit of the central and local government sector, the so-called general government, amounted to 6.6 percent of GDP at the end of 2024, compared to a deficit of 5.3 percent a year earlier.
The debt of this sector reached 55.3 percent of GDP at the end of 2024, against 55.3 percent of GDP estimated earlier. This is compared to 49.5 percent of GDP a year earlier, based on revised data.
“According to the notification, the deficit of the general government sector in 2024 amounted to PLN 239,809 million, which is 6.6 percent of GDP. The sector’s debt amounted to PLN 2,011,840 million, i.e. 55.3 percent of GDP,” read the announcement.
The Central Statistical Office also reported that the nominal value of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024 amounted to PLN 3,641,208 million.
Nominal public debt exceeded PLN 2 trillion. For the first time in history
Business Insider notes that for the first time in history, nominal debt has exceeded PLN 2 trillion. This means an increase of over PLN 320 billion per year. In 2022, this debt amounted to PLN 1.513 trillion, and in 2021, PLN 1.411 trillion.
The nominal public finance deficit is also record-breaking, at PLN 239.8 billion, which means that it was almost PLN 40 billion higher than in 2023 (revised data).
“In 2022, it was PLN 106.6 billion, in 2021, only PLN 46.5 billion. Previously, only once was a deficit of over PLN 100 billion recorded: it was in the post-crisis year 2010, when it reached PLN 107 billion,” the text states.
BI points out that, excluding the pandemic, the last time such a large deficit as in 2024 was recorded in Poland was in 2010 (7.4 percent).
“Dziennik Gazeta Prawna” notes that Poland has the second-largest public finance debt in the European Union. Only Romania is ahead of Poland, which had a 9.3 percent GDP deficit in 2024.
