debt countries managed to reduce their debt levels. croatia, whose debt level rose substantially prior to the crisis, has only marginally deleveraged afterwards. there were also countries like slovakia, north macedonia, poland and the czech republic, where the debt continued to rise further, yet, mostly from lower levels in the peak of the crisis. chart 5. change in private debt to gdp ratios, 2009 - 2017 chart 6. private debt structure, 2017 ( in percent of gdp ) ( in percentage points ) * region refers to all the countries in the sample from cee, see and the baltics. source : imf global debt database. cross - sector analysis reveals that the pre - crisis increase in private leverage was almost equally driven by corporate and household sector, as the context was conducive for rising debt across the board. corporate debt on average rose by 25 p. p. of gdp in 2009 compared to 2000, but marked cross – country differences were visible. in some countries, such as bulgaria, croatia, baltics, slovenia corporate debt level was rapidly increasing, bringing the debt level very close to 100 % of gdp. the higher the debt level, the more difficult the adjustment was, particularly given the soft post – crisis economic recovery and hence the low capacity to reduce the debt burden. in fact, only slovenia and the baltic states managed to deleverage markedly, while in bulgaria, the adjustment was slower and the debt level remained relatively high. in some countries such as slovakia, north macedonia, poland and the czech republic, the corporate sector continued to accumulate leverage post - crisis. in the case of north macedonia, the rise in corporate debt was predominantly driven by external borrowing, mirroring the expansion of foreign companies established in the technological industrial development zones ( tidz ) that mostly rely on external funding through inter - company loans from their parent entities. corporate debt continues to account for majority of total private debt in most cesee countries ( close to 70 % of total private debt on average ). loose financing conditions contribute to mitigating the risks to corporate debt sustainability. chart 7. bank credit to households and non - financial corporations ( y - o - y change, in percent ) chart 8. bank credit to households ( structure, in percent, 2010 - 2018 average ) ( y - o - y growth, in percent, 2010 - 2018 average ) source : central banks websites. household debt increased from a very low base in almost all countries in the region, as supply and

70 % - 83 % of gdp. after 2015, the debt level started to adjust, with a cumulative contraction of around 6 p. p. of gdp, visible in almost all countries in the region. the adjustment was supported through the cyclical recovery of the economies in the region, as well as fiscal discretionary measures, which allowed for fiscal consolidation and precluded further debt accumulation. though public debt sustainability and vulnerability is a much more complex issue rather than a simple comparison with a benchmark criterion, still even the latter can provide certain guideline on the issues. chart 2 general government debt as % of gdp 90. 00 80. 00 25. 0 70. 00 60. 00 50. 00 20. 0 60. 5 55. 8 52. 5 52. 4 49. 1 46. 3 15. 0 50. 3 10. 0 36. 1 37. 9 40. 00 30. 00 general government debt, change in p. p 30. 0 79. 3 29. 7 28. 3 27. 7 20. 00 14. 5 10. 00 9. 3 5. 0 25. 4 0. 0 - 5. 0 region cee see baltics - 10. 0 - 15. 0 0. 00 region cee see baltics - 20. 0 2015 / 2007 2019 / 2015 2024 / 2019 * region refers to all the countries in the sample from cee, see and the baltics. source : world economic outlook, october 2019. the comparison of the public debt levels with the maastricht criterion as a benchmark reveals shift towards less vulnerable zone in most of the countries. in 2015, when the average government debt level reached its peak, it was below the accepted benchmark by close to 8 p. p. of gdp, while in 2019, the distance was widened to 14 p. p. and by 2024, it is expected to reach around 20 p. p. ( according to the weo, october 2019 forecast ). this clearly indicates that in the last couple of years, despite the low interest rate environment, fiscal space in cesee region was rebuilt thus reducing public sector exposure to sudden shifts in the sentiment at the global financial markets or reversal in the interest rate cycle. still it has to be noted that the public debt level is still above the pre - crisis pone, and few of the countries, despite the adjustment, did not succeed in bringing the debt level below 60 % of gdp ( albania, croatia,