Interest paid by companies in Luxembourg represented more than a third of their gross operating surplus in 2023, placing it top of the table of countries in the European Union.

Luxembourg companies paid almost €2 billion in additional interest charges between 2021 and 2023, a rise of 62%. This represented 37% of their earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), an increase of 15 percentage points compared with 2021.

The figures were unveiled by state statistics office Statec on Monday in a flash report that showed that high interest rates were negatively…