STAT/12/150
24 October 2012
Second quarter of 2012 compared with first quarter of 2012
Euro area government debt up to 90.0% of GDP
EU27 debt up to 84.9%
At the end of the second quarter of 2012, the government debt1 to GDP ratio2 in the euro area3 (EA17) stood at 90.0%, compared with 88.2% at the end of the first quarter of 2012. In the EU273 the ratio increased from 83.5% to 84.9%. Compared with the second quarter of 2011, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 87.1% to 90.0%) and the EU27 (from 81.4% to 84.9%). These data are released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
At the end of the second quarter of 2012, securities other than shares accounted for 78.6% of euro area and for 80.1% of EU27 general government debt. Loans made up 18.6% of euro area and 16.1% of EU27 government debt. Currency and deposits represented 2.8% of euro area and 3.7% of EU27 government debt.
Due to the involvement of EU governments in financial assistance to certain Member States, and in order to obtain a more complete picture of the evolution of government debt, quarterly data on intergovernmental lending (IGL)4 is also published. The share of IGL in GDP at the end of the second quarter of 2012 amounts to 1.6% for the euro area and to 1.2% for EU27.
Q2 2011 | Q1 2012 | Q2 2012 | ||||||||||
EA17 | ||||||||||||
Government debt | (million euro) | 8 127 324 | 8 341 920 | 8 517 187 | ||||||||
(% of GDP) | 87.1 | 88.2 | 90.0 | |||||||||
Of which: Currency and deposits | (million euro) | 227 358 | 235 810 | 234 140 | ||||||||
(% of total debt) | 2.8 | 2.8 | 2.8 | |||||||||
Securities other than shares | (million euro) | 6 504 081 | 6 609 985 | 6 695 342 | ||||||||
(% of total debt) | 80.0 | 79.2 | 78.6 | |||||||||
Loans | (million euro) | 1 395 885 | 1 496 126 | 1 587 705 | ||||||||
(% of total debt) | 17.2 | 17.9 | 18.6 | |||||||||
Memo: Intergovernmental lending in the context of the financial crisis |
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EU27 | ||||||||||||
Government debt | (million euro) | 10 164 783 | 10 600 837 | 10 840 198 | ||||||||
(% of GDP) | 81.4 | 83.5 | 84.9 | |||||||||
Of which: Currency and deposits | (million euro) | 384 271 | 412 043 | 405 285 | ||||||||
(% of total debt) | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.7 | |||||||||
Securities other than shares | (million euro) | 8 227 631 | 8 529 369 | 8 684 946 | ||||||||
(% of total debt) | 80.9 | 80.5 | 80.1 | |||||||||
Loans | (million euro) | 1 552 880 | 1 659 426 | 1 749 977 | ||||||||
(% of total debt) | 15.3 | 15.7 | 16.1 | |||||||||
Memo: Intergovernmental lending in the context of the financial crisis |
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Government debt at the end of the second quarter 2012 by Member State
The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the second quarter of 2012 were recorded in Greece (150.3%), Italy (126.1%), Portugal (117.5%) and Ireland (111.5%), and the lowest in Estonia (7.3%), Bulgaria (16.5%) and Luxembourg (20.9%).
Compared with the first quarter of 2012, twenty Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the second quarter of 2012, six a decrease and one remained stable. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Greece (+13.4 percentage points - pp), Cyprus (+8.3 pp) and Portugal (+5.6 pp), and the largest decreases in Lithuania (-2.3 pp), Latvia and Hungary (both -1.3 pp).
Compared with the second quarter of 2011, twenty-three Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the second quarter of 2012, and four a decrease. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Cyprus (+16.5 pp), Portugal (+10.8 pp), Ireland (+10.0 pp) and Spain (+9.3 pp), and the largest decreases in Greece (-8.5 pp) and Latvia (-1.5 pp).
Quarterly data on government debt are collected from the Member States according to Council Regulation 1222/2004 and refer to the Maastricht debt definition. The general government debt is defined as the consolidated gross debt of the whole of the general government sector outstanding at the end of the quarter (at nominal value). General government debt consists of liabilities of general government in the following categories: currency and deposits (AF.2); securities other than shares, excluding financial derivatives (AF.33) and loans (AF.4), as defined in ESA95.
Quarterly data on government debt by Member State are published in the Eurostat database:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/data/database.
The debt to GDP ratio is calculated for each quarter using the sum of GDP for the four last quarters. Data on GDP are the most recent transmitted by the EU Member States. Quarterly GDP figures for Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Greece and Hungary have been benchmarked to their most up-to-date annual GDP figures by Eurostat.
The euro area (EA17) includes Belgium, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Italy, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Slovakia and Finland.
The EU27 includes Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg (LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).
For the purpose of proper consolidation of general government debt and to provide users with information, Eurostat publishes data on government loans to other EU governments and these loans have been deducted from EA17 and EU27 debt. The concepts and definitions are based on the European system of national and regional accounts (ESA 95 - Council Regulation 2223/96) and on the rules relating to the statistics for the Excessive Deficit Procedure (EDP). The data covered is stocks of loans related to claims on other EU Member States. The valuation basis is the stock of loans at nominal value outstanding at end of each quarter. For the first quarter of 2011 onwards, the intergovernmental lending figures relate mainly to lending to Greece, Ireland and Portugal and include loans made by the European Financial Stability Facility (see Eurostat decision regarding EFSF http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/2-27012011-AP/EN/2-27012011-AP-EN.PDF).
Further data are available in the integrated publication on quarterly government finance statistics:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/government_finance_statistics/data
Issued by: Eurostat Press Office Tim ALLEN Tel: +352-4301-33 444 eurostat.pressoffice@ec.europa.eu Eurostat news releases on the internet: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat | For further information on data: Iulia Adriana STANISLAV EMINESCU Tel: +352-4301-32 988 iulia-adriana.stanislav-eminescu@ec.europa.eu Irena TVARIJONAVICIUTE Tel: +352-4301-39 491 |
Selected Principal European Economic Indicators: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/euroindicators
Government debt by Member State
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Belgium | euro | 355 744 | 378 657 | 382 922 | 97.6 | 101.7 | 102.5 | 4.9 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 89.9 | 12.2 | 1.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgaria | BGN | 11 281 | 12 542 | 12 386 | 15.2 | 16.7 | 16.5 | 1.3 | -0.3 | - | 10.3 | 6.1 | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Czech Republic | CZK | 1 475 152 | 1 677 327 | 1 678 249 | 38.6 | 43.5 | 43.6 | 5.0 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 39.6 | 4.0 | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Denmark | DKK | 823 707 | 806 911 | 837 425 | 46.3 | 45.1 | 46.7 | 0.4 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 38.6 | 7.3 | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Germany | euro | 2 073 213 | 2 116 231 | 2 169 354 | 81.1 | 81.1 | 82.8 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 58.1 | 24.2 | 1.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Estonia | euro | 950 | 1 082 | 1 197 | 6.3 | 6.7 | 7.3 | 1.0 | 0.6 | - | 1.5 | 5.7 | 1.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ireland | euro | 158 802 | 174 350 | 179 718 | 101.5 | 108.5 | 111.5 | 10.0 | 3.0 | 10.0 | 53.8 | 47.7 | 0.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greece | euro | 340 906 | 280 423 | 300 807 | 158.8 | 136.9 | 150.3 | -8.5 | 13.4 | 0.5 | 62.6 | 87.2 | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spain | euro | 705 526 | 774 926 | 804 615 | 66.7 | 72.9 | 76.0 | 9.3 | 3.0 | 0.4 | 59.7 | 15.9 | 1.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
France | euro | 1 696 057 | 1 789 387 | 1 832 599 | 86.0 | 89.1 | 91.0 | 5.0 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 78.0 | 11.5 | 1.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italy | euro | 1 910 024 | 1 954 490 | 1 982 239 | 121.7 | 123.7 | 126.1 | 4.4 | 2.3 | 10.0 | 105.5 | 10.6 | 1.9 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cyprus | euro | 11 885 | 13 470 | 14 939 | 66.8 | 75.0 | 83.3 | 16.5 | 8.3 | 0.0 | 49.5 | 33.8 | 1.8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Latvia | LVL | 5 952 | 6 468 | 6 393 | 44.5 | 44.3 | 43.0 | -1.5 | -1.3 | 1.8 | 13.6 | 27.6 | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lithuania | LTL | 38 140 | 46 081 | 44 157 | 37.9 | 42.7 | 40.4 | 2.5 | -2.3 | 0.2 | 32.8 | 7.5 | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Luxembourg | euro | 7 849 | 9 014 | 9 148 | 18.9 | 20.9 | 20.9 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 11.4 | 9.0 | 1.0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungary | HUF | 21 306 213 | 22 395 523 | 22 168 478 | 78.4 | 79.6 | 78.3 | -0.1 | -1.3 | 0.1 | 58.2 | 20.0 | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Malta | euro | 4 535 | 4 838 | 5 008 | 70.8 | 74.3 | 76.3 | 5.5 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 70.4 | 5.2 | 2.3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Netherlands | euro | 383 799 | 400 518 | 411 170 | 64.2 | 66.5 | 68.2 | 4.0 | 1.7 | 0.1 | 53.0 | 15.1 | 1.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Austria | euro | 213 533 | 222 756 | 228 922 | 72.0 | 73.4 | 75.1 | 3.0 | 1.7 | 0.0 | 61.1 | 13.9 | 1.5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Poland | PLN | 819 933 | 867 840 | 891 756 | 55.9 | 56.1 | 57.0 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 47.9 | 9.1 | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Portugal | euro | 184 417 | 190 397 | 198 136 | 106.7 | 112.0 | 117.5 | 10.8 | 5.6 | 7.0 | 65.2 | 45.3 | 0.7 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Romania | RON | 182 994 | 211 400 | 210 101 | 33.6 | 36.3 | 35.6 | 1.9 | -0.7 | 0.7 | 21.3 | 13.6 | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Slovenia | euro | 16 053 | 17 030 | 17 334 | 44.5 | 47.0 | 48.1 | 3.6 | 1.1 | 0.3 | 40.9 | 6.9 | 2.2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Slovakia | euro | 28 810 | 32 358 | 35 307 | 42.8 | 46.4 | 50.1 | 7.4 | 3.8 | 0.1 | 44.9 | 5.1 | 1.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Finland | euro | 85 217 | 93 020 | 99 640 | 46.1 | 48.5 | 51.7 | 5.6 | 3.2 | 0.3 | 41.9 | 9.5 | 1.6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sweden | SEK | 1 289 621 | 1 312 738 | 1 322 054 | 37.4 | 37.3 | 37.3 | -0.1 | 0.1 | 2.3 | 28.1 | 7.0 | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
United Kingdom | GBP | 1 238 279 | 1 312 137 | 1 318 256 | 82.8 | 86.1 | 86.0 | 3.2 | -0.1 | 8.4 | 76.0 | 1.6 | 0.1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
* Securities other than shares, excluding financial derivatives.
