Estonia's government debt to GDP ratio was 8.1 percent in the first quarter, the lowest in the the EU, followed by Bulgaria at 21.2 percent and Luxembourg at 21.3 percent, it appears from data available from Eurostat.

The highest first quarter government debt to GDP ratio, meanwhile, was registered in Greece at 181.9 percent, followed by Italy at 134 percent and Portugal at 123 percent.

At the end of the first quarter of 2019, the average ratio in the euro area stood at 85.9 percent, down by 1.2 percentage points on year. In the EU overall, the ratio decreased by 0.9 percentage points on year to an average of 80.7 percent.

The debt to GDP ratio in the first quarter increased in five EU member states, fell in 21 states and remained unchanged in one member state.

The largest on-year drop was registered in Slovenia at 7.6 percentage points; the largest increase, meanwhile, was recorded in Cyprus at 12.2 percentage points. Estonia's debt to GDP ratio decreased by 0.9 percentage point.

Within the euro area, debt securities accounted for 81.1 percent of general government debt, loans for 15.8 percent and currency and deposits 3.1 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2019.

In the EU as a whole, these figures stood at 81.9 percent, 13.9 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively.

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