For the budgetary notification to the European Commission at the end of March 2012 (notification of government deficit/surplus and government debt in connection with the Maastricht convergence criteria), Statistics Austria computed for the first time the data on the year 2011 in accordance with the categories of the European System of Accounts (ESA 1995). The previous year the government deficit was €7.8 bn or 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP).