General government deficit 3.8 per cent and debt 88.4 per cent relative to gross domestic product in 2025

General government deficit decreased but remained high

According to the data reported by Statistics Finland to Eurostat, general government deficit, or net borrowing according to national accounts, was EUR 10.7 billion in 2025. General government deficit relative to gross domestic product was 3.8 per cent. According to the revised data, the financial position of general government improved by EUR 1.5 billion from the previous year.

According to the revised data, central government net borrowing amounted to EUR 11.7 billion, which was EUR 0.8 billion more than in the preliminary data released in spring. The biggest revisions were caused by revisions in the source data on dividends and investments. Local government net borrowing was EUR 0.8 billion, and it changed only a little compared to the preliminary data. The net lending of social security funds was EUR 1.7 billion, which was EUR 0.3 billion less than in the preliminary data released in spring. The revision was mainly due to revisions in the data on paid social benefits other than social transfers in kind.

General government deficit for 2024 was revised to EUR 12.3 billion and deficit for 2023 to EUR 8.1 billion.

Content is being loaded

Consolidated general government gross debt (EDP debt) amounted to EUR 249 billion at the end of 2025.

Debt increased by EUR 19.6 billion in central government and by EUR 0.9 billion in local government in 2025. The debt of social security funds increased by EUR 0.8 billion. The decrease in consolidated items between general government subsectors by EUR 131 million resulted in the total debt of the general government sector increasing by EUR 21.5 billion in 2025.

The EDP debt describes general government’s debt to the other sectors of the economy and to the rest of the world, and its development is influenced by changes in both the unconsolidated gross debt and the internal general government debt.

EDP reporting tables, notification in October 2026 (in English only) (PDF)

EDP reporting tables also include appendix tables on RRF assistance received by Finland from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Facility, on the national cofinancing of EU funded projects and on defence expenditure according to the general government task classification.

Eurostat will publish the data on Members States on 21 October 2026.

Central government's EDP debt differs as a concept from the central government debt published by the State Treasury

General government surplus/deficit refers to net lending/borrowing according to the sector accounts of national accounts, which is the difference between total revenue and expenditure. For instance, in the case of local government, the concept differs from the surplus/deficit of the accounting period according to the profit and loss accounts of municipalities and joint municipal authorities included in the sector. The key difference concerns investments, which are recorded in national accounts as expenditure as such.

In general government accounts, the European Financial Stability Facility EFSF is, based on Eurostat's decision, handled so that the EFSF's borrowing is recorded as part of the gross government debt of the countries that have provided guarantees. The loan received by the beneficiary country from the EFSF is recorded as if it had been received from the countries in the euro area that have provided guarantees and these countries in turn owe the corresponding amount to the EFSF. As a result, the EDP gross debt of the countries that provided guarantees grows but the net debt remains unchanged because the countries have a similar receivable from the beneficiary country.

The gross government debt to be recorded in each country’s general government debt on the loans granted by the EFSF is calculated by dividing the loan granted to the beneficiary country by the contribution key (based on the share in the ECB's capital of each country participating in the support operations).

At the end of 2025, Finland's general government debt includes EUR 3.6 billion of debt granted by the EFSF to beneficiary countries. Corresponding treatment does not apply to the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).

Central government's EDP debt differs as a concept from the central government debt published by the State Treasury. Central government's EDP debt includes loans granted to beneficiary counties by the European Financial Stability Facility EFSF, received cash collateral related to derivative contracts, the capital of the Nuclear Waste Management Fund, debts generated from investments in central government's PPP (public-private partnership) projects, and coins that are in circulation. ARA interest subsidy loans are also included in general government debt.

In National Accounts, central government is also a broader concept than the budget and financial economy. However, the State Pension Fund is classified as a social security fund. The valuation principle for both debt concepts is the nominal value, where the effect of interest-rate contracts and currency swaps is taken into account. When these differences are taken into consideration, we reach the central government non-consolidated gross debt in accordance with the EDP concept.

In 2025, the State Treasury's central government debt EUR 187.7 billion + conceptual differences of the debt and differences caused by the sector delimitation in total EUR 8.9 billion + differences due to the recording of ARA interest subsidy loans EUR 12.8 billion = central government gross debt EUR 209.4 billion.

The stock of ARA interest subsidy loans added to local government amounted to EUR 8.0 billion. Hence, the impact of the rearrangement of ARA interest subsidy loans on the general government consolidated EDP debt was EUR 20.7 billion.

A list of units belonging to general government and decisions on major sector classification cases (only in Finnish).