General government debt was down by 2.2 percentage points compared to the last quarter of 2018, when it stood at 70.1% of GDP.

Similarly to the past seven quarters, general government generated a surplus also in the first quarter of 2019, but this time it was minimal.

"The state of government finance got worse compared to the same quarter of 2018, as general government surplus decreased by EUR 35 million or 0.3 of a percentage point. The main reason for this reversal was the high growth of expenditure, which was for the first time since 2016 higher than the growth of revenue," reads the office's press release.

Consolidated general government gross debt decreased by EUR 647 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2018. Long term securities debt was down most significantly.