MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's public debt-to-GDP ratio fell by more than 5 percentage points in 2022, the steepest decline ever, to 113.1% after the ratio had gained more than 20 percentage points during the pandemic, the Bank of Spain said on Friday.
"Thanks to strong economic growth and a responsible fiscal policy, we have largely outperformed our debt reduction target for 2022 by 2 percentage points," Spain's economy minister Nadia Calvino said on her Twitter account.
GDP growth was stronger than expected as was tax collection.
The General Government debt in December amounted to 1.50 trillion euros, the statistical press release showed.
Spain's debt-to-GDP ratio at the end of December was lower than the 116% registered in September. The figure also came lower than the 118.7% at the end of 2021, and 117.1% at end of 2020, the central bank said.
Increased government spending and the general economic activity contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 had caused the Spanish debt/GDP ratio to gain more than 20 percentage points.
Strong 5.5% GDP growth in 2022 helped to reduce the ratio.
"Despite the complex international context of the war in Ukraine, the Spanish economy is absorbing the extraordinary impact of the pandemic at an unprecedented rate," Calvino said.