10/2014 - 22 January 2014
Third quarter of 2013 compared with second quarter of 2013
Euro area government debt down to 92.7% of GDP,
EU28 up to 86.8% of GDP
First decrease in absolute terms for the euro area since fourth quarter of 2007
At the end of the third quarter of 2013, the government debt
1
to GDP ratio
2
in the euro area
3
(EA17) stood at
92.7%, compared with 93.4% at the end of the second quarter of 2013, the first fall in absolute terms since the
fourth quarter of 2007. In the EU28
3
the ratio increased from 86.7% to 86.8%, mainly due to exchange rate effects.
Compared with the third quarter of 2012, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 90.0%
to 92.7%) and the EU28 (from 84.9% to 86.8%).
At the end of the third quarter of 2013, securities other than shares accounted for 79.3% of euro area government
debt, loans for 17.9% and currency and deposits for 2.7%. EU28 government debt was made up of 80.9%
securities other than shares, 15.5% loans and 3.6% currency and deposits.
Due to the involvement of EU governments in financial assistance to some Member States, quarterly data on
intergovernmental lending (IGL)
4
is also published. The share of IGL in GDP at the end of the third quarter of 2013
amounted to 2.4% for the euro area and to 1.8% for the EU28.
These data are released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
2012 Q3 2013 Q2 2013 Q3
EA17
Government debt (million euro) 8 529 324 8 875 107 8 841 823
(% of GDP) 90.0 93.4 92.7
Of which: Currency and deposits (million euro) 241 220 237 934 239 972
(% of total debt) 2.8 2.7 2.7
Securities other than shares (million euro) 6 720 642 7 032 752 7 015 230
(% of total debt) 78.8 79.2 79.3
Loans (million euro) 1 567 589 1 604 638 1 586 842
(% of total debt) 18.4 18.1 17.9
Memo: Intergovernmental lending in the context of the
financial crisis
(million euro) 158 483 221 079 224 686
(% of GDP) 1.7 2.3 2.4
EA18
Government debt (million euro) 8 538 064 8 883 890 8 850 588
(% of GDP) 89.9 93.3 92.6
Of which: Currency and deposits (million euro) 241 550 238 222 240 232
(% of total debt) 2.8 2.7 2.7
Securities other than shares (million euro) 6 723 513 7 036 488 7 018 978
(% of total debt) 78.7 79.2 79.3
Loans (million euro) 1 573 000 1 609 181 1 591 378
(% of total debt) 18.4 18.1 18.0
Memo: Intergovernmental lending in the context of
the financial crisis
(million euro) 158 483 221 079 224 686
(% of GDP) 1.7 2.3 2.4
EU28
Government debt (million euro) 10 959 398 11 282 059 11 310 458
(% of GDP) 84.9 86.7 86.8
Of which: Currency and deposits (million euro) 419 983 403 245 407 993
(% of total debt) 3.8 3.6 3.6
Securities other than shares (million euro) 8 799 532 9 107 277 9 147 802
(% of total debt) 80.3 80.7 80.9
Loans (million euro) 1 739 883 1 771 538 1 754 663
(% of total debt) 15.9 15.7 15.5
Memo: Intergovernmental lending in the context of
the financial crisis
(million euro) 160 855 225 494 229 680
(% of GDP) 1.2 1.7 1.8
Government debt at the end of the third quarter 2013 by Member State
The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the third quarter of 2013 were recorded in Greece
(171.8%), Italy (132.9%), Portugal (128.7%) and Ireland (124.8%), and the lowest in Estonia (10.0%), Bulgaria
(17.3%) and Luxembourg (27.7%).
EL
IT
PT
IE
CY
BE
ES EA17 FR EA18
UK
EU28
HU
DE
AT
7
MT
NL
SI HR
6
PL SK
FI
DK CZ
SE
LT RO LV
LU
BG
EE
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
Government debt to GDP ratio, 2013 Q3
in percentage
Compared with the second quarter of 2013, ten Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at
the end of the third quarter of 2013, seventeen a decrease and Slovenia no change. The highest increases in the
ratio were recorded in Cyprus
5
(+11.0 percentage points pp), Luxembourg (+4.6 pp) and Greece (+3.0 pp). The
largest decreases were recorded in Portugal (-2.6 pp), Finland (-2.5 pp), Belgium (-1.5 pp), Germany (-1.4 pp)
and Hungary (-1.3 pp).
CY
LU
EL
HR
6
AT
7
ES
MT
DK
RO EE
EU28 SI
SE
PL NL
UK IT
IE EA17 LV EA18 BG LT
FR SK CZ
HU
DE
BE
FI PT
-4
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
Changes in government debt to GDP ratio, 2013 Q3 compared with 2013 Q2,
in percentage points
Compared with the third quarter of 2012, twenty-three Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP
ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2013, and five a decrease. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded
in Cyprus
5
(+25.3 pp), Greece (+19.9 pp), Spain (+14.3 pp) and Slovenia (+14.1 pp), while decreases were
recorded in Germany (-2.8 pp), Latvia (-2.0 pp), Bulgaria (-1.4 pp), Denmark (-0.9 pp) and Lithuania (-0.8 pp).
CY
EL
ES
SI
PT
IE
HR
6
IT LU SK
MT
NL
FI SE
FR EA17 EA18 AT
7
RO PL UK BE EU28
HU
CZ EE
LT DK
BG
LV
DE
-5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Changes in government debt to GDP ratio, 2013 Q3 compared with 2012 Q3,
in percentage points
1. Quarterly data on government debt are collected from the Member States according to Council Regulation (EC) No 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 the European system of national and regional accounts (ESA 95 - Council
Regulation No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996).
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.
2. The debt to GDP ratio is calculated for each quarter using the sum of GDP for the four last quarters. Quarterly data on GDP are the
most recent transmitted by the EU Member States.
3. Up to 31 December 2013, the euro area (EA17) included Belgium (BE), Germany (DE), Estonia (EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL),
Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy (IT), Cyprus (CY), Luxembourg (LU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), Austria (AT), Portugal (PT),
Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK) and Finland (FI). From 1 January 2014 the euro area (EA18) also includes Latvia (LV).
The EU28 includes the EA18 Member States as well as Bulgaria (BG), the Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Croatia (HR),
Lithuania (LT), Hungary (HU), Poland (PL), Romania (RO), Sweden (SE) and the United Kingdom (UK).
As part of Eurostat's guidelines for the dissemination of data when the euro area is enlarged, the aggregate data series commented
on in this News Release refer to the official composition in the most recent quarter for which data is available. Thus News
Releases with data for quarters up to 2013 Q4 comment on EA17 series, while Releases with data for 2014 Q1 onwards will
comment on EA18 series.
Eurostat's guidelines can be found on the Eurostat website:
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/GUIDE_ENLARG_2007/EN/GUIDE_ENLARG_2007-EN.PDF
4. 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 euro area and EU debt. The concepts
and definitions are based on ESA 95 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. From 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).
5. Cyprus: The increase in debt is largely due to European Stability Mechanism loans disbursed under the financial assistance
package for Cyprus.
6. Croatia: Due to the on-going process of quality improvement of the general government reporting system (including data sources)
for quarterly government finance statistics data, Eurostat publishes Croatian quarterly government debt data as provisional.
7. Austria: In the context of the excessive deficit procedure Eurostat has issued a reservation on the government debt data reported
by Austria. For more information please see http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_PUBLIC/2-21102013-AP/EN/2-
21102013-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:
Cristina CALIZZANI
Irena KOSTADINOVA
Monika GAPINSKA
Laura WAHRIG
Tel: +352-4301-30 702
ESTAT-ESA95-DEBT@ec.europa.eu
Selected Principal European Economic Indicators: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/euroindicators
Government debt by Member State
General government gross debt
Components of government debt,
in % of GDP
IGL
Millions of national currency % of GDP
Difference in pp of GDP,
Q3/2013 compared with:
Currency and
deposits
Securities
other than
shares*
Loans % of GDP
2012 Q3 2013 Q2 2013 Q3 2012 Q3 2013 Q2 2013 Q3 2012 Q3 2013 Q2 2013 Q3 2013 Q3 2013 Q3 2013 Q3
Belgium euro 380 837 397 824 393 603 101.7 105.2 103.7 2.1 -1.5 0.4 90.1 13.3 2.2
Bulgaria BGN 14 200 14 141 13 611 18.7 18.0 17.3 -1.4 -0.7 : 11.2 6.1 -
Czech Republic CZK 1 744 132 1 803 941 1 771 253 45.3 47.0 46.0 0.7 -1.0 - 41.5 4.6 -
Denmark DKK 857 358 841 940 855 607 47.2 45.7 46.3 -0.9 0.5 0.8 38.3 7.1 0.1
Germany euro 2 153 294 2 146 830 2 126 831 81.1 79.8 78.4 -2.8 -1.4 0.4 57.0 20.9 2.4
Estonia euro 1 618 1 753 1 817 9.4 9.8 10.0 0.6 0.2 : 1.4 8.6 2.4
Ireland euro 191 786 204 486 204 696 117.1 125.4 124.8 7.7 -0.6 11.6 71.9 41.3 0.2
Greece euro 300 142 316 969 317 310 151.9 168.8 171.8 19.9 3.0 0.6 42.9 128.3 -
Spain euro 818 003 943 415 954 863 79.1 92.2 93.4 14.3 1.2 0.4 73.3 19.7 2.8
France euro 1 817 965 1 912 205 1 900 848 89.7 93.6 92.7 2.9 -0.9 1.7 78.7 12.2 2.4
Croatia
6
HRK 179 214 197 287 203 360 54.6 59.8 61.7 7.1 1.9 : 43.4 18.3 -
Italy euro 1 996 512 2 076 371 2 068 722 127.0 133.3 132.9 5.9 -0.4 10.0 111.6 11.3 2.8
Cyprus euro 15 043 16 906 18 403 84.3 98.6 109.6 25.3 11.0 - 45.7 63.9 2.3
Latvia euro 8 658 8 778 8 763 40.1 38.7 38.0 -2.0 -0.7 1.1 16.3 20.6 -
Lithuania LTL 45 123 46 937 46 704 40.3 40.3 39.6 -0.8 -0.8 0.7 30.8 8.1 -
Luxembourg euro 9 267 10 221 12 449 21.8 23.0 27.7 5.9 4.6 0.5 17.9 9.2 1.3
Hungary HUF 22 218 297 23 249 020 23 088 951 79.0 81.5 80.2 1.2 -1.3 0.1 66.0 14.2 -
Malta euro 4 900 5 296 5 409 72.3 75.7 76.6 4.3 0.9 0.8 70.6 5.2 3.1
Netherlands euro 417 239 442 324 442 163 69.6 73.9 73.6 4.0 -0.3 0.1 58.9 14.7 2.3
Austria
7
euro 226 677 232 996 239 838 74.5 75.2 77.1 2.6 1.8 - 63.5 13.5 2.1
Poland PLN 883 826 937 899 940 182 55.7 58.3 58.0 2.3 -0.2 - 48.3 9.7 -
Portugal euro 201 629 214 823 210 965 120.5 131.3 128.7 8.2 -2.6 6.7 68.8 53.2 0.7
Romania RON 211 566 233 382 238 896 36.4 38.6 38.9 2.4 0.3 0.7 25.6 12.6 -
Slovenia euro 17 290 21 873 21 922 48.6 62.6 62.6 14.1 0.0 0.3 53.6 8.8 3.2
Slovakia euro 36 420 41 647 41 085 51.4 58.1 57.2 5.7 -1.0 0.1 50.4 6.6 2.5
Finland euro 99 084 110 152 105 496 51.5 57.3 54.8 3.3 -2.5 0.3 44.3 10.2 2.3
Sweden SEK 1 324 080 1 459 143 1 461 328 37.5 40.8 40.7 3.2 -0.1 2.3 31.2 7.2 0.1
United Kingdom GBP 1 355 383 1 422 381 1 431 399 86.9 89.5 89.1 2.2 -0.4 8.1 79.3 1.7 0.2
* Securities other than shares, excluding financial derivatives.
: not available
- not applicable
