According to data released on 23 October by Eurostat, the EU statistical office, at the end of the second quarter of 2018, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 86.3%, compared with 86.9% at the end of the first quarter of 2018. In the EU, the ratio decreased from 81.5% to 81.0%. Compared with the second quarter of 2017, the government debt to GDP ratio fell in both the euro area (from 89.2% to 86.3%) and the EU (from 83.4% to 81.0%). As for deficits, in the second quarter of 2018, the seasonally adjusted general government deficit to GDP ratio stood at 0.1% in the euro area, a decrease compared with 0.2% in the first quarter of 2018 and the lowest deficit since the beginning of comparable time series in 2002. In the EU, the deficit to GDP ratio stood at 0.3%, a decrease compared with 0.5% in the previous quarter and also the lowest deficit since the beginning of comparable time series in 2002.