Fuente : Comisión Europea
http://europa.eu.int

Structure of government debt in the EU - In most EU Member States, central government debt is more than 80% of total government debt

Securities are the most used instrument

/noticias.info/ Even if the level of government debt expressed as a percentage of GDP differs significantly from one Member State to another, the structure of debt presents some common features in most Member States. In general, central government debt accounts for more than 80% of the total government debt and most Member States finance more than 70% of their debt by issuing securities.

This information comes from a report1 released today by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities. This report, based on a survey of the structure of government debt, provides information on general government debt broken down by sub-sector, financial instrument, debt holder, maturity, currency of issue, state guarantees and other features.

Central government largest borrower in the EU25

At the end of 2003, the overall level of government consolidated debt2 was 63.3% of GDP for the EU25. Among the Member States debt levels varied widely, from 5.3% of GDP in Estonia and 5.4% in Luxembourg, to 109.9% in Greece and 106.2% in Italy.

When looking at the sub-sectors3 in most Member States, central government debt was more than 80% of unconsolidated government debt in 2003. Malta (100%), Greece (99%), Cyprus (98%), Slovenia and Slovakia (both 97%), and Portugal (95%) registered the largest proportions.

The share of central government debt was much lower in three Member States where state and local governments played a more important role. In Estonia, Luxembourg and Germany, the proportion of state and local government debt was 48%, 44% and 39% respectively in 2003.

The low level of social security funds debt (less than or equal to 5% of total unconsolidated government debt) is due to the fact that, in some Member States, a part of this financing is undertaken through central government.


Securities are the main financial instrument in 23 out of 25 EU Member States

In the EU25 77% of government debt was financed by issuing securities (bills, bonds, etc. excluding shares) in 2003. Denmark (93%), Belgium (88%), Malta (87%), Spain, Italy, Hungary and Austria (85% each) registered the highest proportions of debt financed by securities. Estonia (26%) and Luxembourg (27%) recorded the lowest shares. Both having a very low debt, the use of loans is easier to manage and less expensive.

The use of currency and other deposits was in general very low, except in the United Kingdom (19%), Ireland (18%) and Portugal (14%). The reason is that deposits from households in institutions such as post offices and in the Treasury are counted as government liabilities in these countries.

With regard to the maturity of the debt, there is no common pattern. In Austria, Germany, Estonia and Greece the proportion of short-term debt (less than one year) was around or below 5% while in France, Ireland, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, the share varied from 25% to 35%. It should be noted that the figure for France includes some bills, ‘Titres de créances négociables’, which are considered as short-term but may have a maturity over 1 year.

Structure of consolidated government debt in the EU25 by instrument (% of total), 2003


Securities other than shares | Loans | Currency and deposits
EU25 77 19 4
Belgium 88 11 0
Czech Republic 56 43 0
Denmark 93 6 2
Germany 67 32 0
Estonia 26 74 0
Greece 81 19 0
Spain 85 14 1
France 74 25 1
Ireland 73 8 18
Italy 85 8 7
Cyprus 71 29 0
Latvia 71 29 0
Lithuania 71 24 5
Luxembourg 27 67 6
Hungary 85 15 0
Malta 87 13 0
Netherlands 82 18 0
Austria 85 15 0
Poland 68 32 0
Portugal 78 7 14
Slovenia 84 16 0
Slovakia 77 23 0
Finland 82 18 0
Sweden 74 24 2
United Kingdom 74 7 19

Source: debt survey, data for the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Slovenia from EDP notification

Eurostat, Statistics in focus, Economy and finance, No 2/2005, “Structure of government debt in Europe”. The publication is available free of charge in PDF format on the Eurostat website.
For calculation of general government debt the definition of the Maastricht treaty used for the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) is followed: debt means total gross debt at nominal value outstanding at the end of the year consolidated between and within the sectors of general government. This means that debt issued by one sub-sector and held by another cancels out. The share of intra-government is different in each country; in general it varies between 5% and 10%. Valuation is always at nominal (face) value for all instruments.

The debt of the sub-sectors (central government, state and local government and social security funds) is consolidated within each of the sectors but not between them. Hence the debt definition for each of the sub-sectors follows the same methodology as for general government in the sense that the stock of debt is equal to the sum of liabilities of the sector in the following categories: currency and deposits, securities other than shares and loans.
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