General government debt grew by EUR 2.1 billion in the first quarter of 2023

Central government debt grew by EUR 3.5 billion during the first quarter

During the first quarter, central government debt grew by EUR 3.5 billion and was EUR 164.1 billion at the end of the quarter. The stock of long-term bonds grew by EUR 6.2 billion and the stock of short-term debt instruments with a maturity of under one year decreased by EUR 2.3 billion. The stock of short-term and long-term loans decreased in total by EUR 0.2 billion.

Local government sector’s debt decreased by EUR 1.0 billion

The local government sector was reformed at the beginning of 2023, when the wellbeing services counties started their actual activity. From the first quarter of 2023 onwards, the sector will include data on the wellbeing services counties in addition to other local government units. The renewed local government sector's debt decreased by EUR 1.0 billion in the first quarter of 2023. The local government sector’s stock of long-term loans decreased by EUR 0.2 billion during the quarter. The stock of short-term debt instruments with a maturity of under one year decreased by EUR 0.2 billion.

Debt of social security funds decreased by EUR 0.4 billion

Social security funds' debt decreased by EUR 0.4 billion mainly due to a decrease in short-term debts and the debt totalled EUR 3.5 billion at the end of the quarter.

Definition of EDP debt

General government EDP debt describes general government’s debt to other sectors of the national economy and to the rest of the world, and its development is influenced by changes in unconsolidated debt and internal general government debts. Consolidated general government gross debt is derived by deducting debts between units recorded under general government from unconsolidated gross debt. For this reason, general government debt is smaller than the combined debts of its sub-sectors. The debt-to-GDP ratio has been calculated using a seasonally and working day adjusted GDP series at market prices.

The EDP debt of general government differs conceptionally to some extent in the case of central government from the central government debt published by the State Treasury. Central government's EDP debt also includes loans granted to beneficiary counties by the European Financial Stability Facility EFSF, received cash collaterals related to derivative contracts, the capital of the Nuclear Waste Management Fund, debts generated from investments in central government's PPP (public-private partnership) projects, coins that are in circulation, and the deposits of the European Commission. In National Accounts, central government is also a broader concept than the budget and financial economy. However, the State Pension Fund is classified as a social security fund. The valuation principle for both debt concepts is the nominal value, where the effect of currency swaps is taken into account.