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STAT/12/111
23 July 2012
First quarter 2012 compared with fourth quarter 2011
Euro area government debt up to 88.2% of GDP
EU27 up to 83.4%
At the end of the first quarter of 2012, the government debt1 to GDP ratio2 in the euro area3 (EA17) stood at 88.2%,
compared with 87.3% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011. In the EU273 the ratio increased from 82.5% to
83.4%. Compared with the first quarter of 2011, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from
86.2% to 88.2%) and the EU27 (from 80.4% to 83.4%).
At the end of the first quarter of 2012, securities other than shares accounted for 78.3% of euro area and 79.3% of
EU27 general government debt. Loans made up 17.8% of euro area and 15.6% of EU27 government debt.
Currency and deposits represented 2.8% of euro area and 3.8% 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 first quarter of 2012 is similar for both the euro area and
the EU27, amounting to 1.2% and 0.9% of GDP respectively.
These data are released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
EA17
Government debt
Of which: Currency and deposits
Securities other than shares
Loans
Memo: Intergovernmental lending in the
context of the financial crisis
2011Q1
2011Q4
2012Q1
(million euro)
(% of GDP)
(million euro)
(% of total debt)
(million euro)
(% of total debt)
(million euro)
(% of total debt)
(million euro)
(% of GDP)
7 973 440
86.2
223 225
2.8
6 352 171
79.2
1 398 049
17.5
42 777
0.5
8 217 338
87.3
225 545
2.7
6 539 495
78.9
1 452 299
17.7
69 408
0.7
8 328 564
88.2
234 677
2.8
6 607 728
78.3
1 486 158
17.8
111 026
1.2
(million euro)
(% of GDP)
(million euro)
(% of total debt)
(million euro)
(% of total debt)
(million euro)
(% of total debt)
(million euro)
(% of GDP)
9 971 729
80.4
369 614
3.7
7 985 347
79.7
1 556 916
15.6
42 777
0.3
10 423 705
82.5
394 133
3.8
8 358 697
79.7
1 620 249
15.5
69 878
0.6
10 592 499
83.4
407 188
3.8
8 483 482
79.3
1 650 192
15.6
111 993
0.9
EU27
Government debt5
Of which: Currency and deposits
Securities other than shares
Loans
Memo: Intergovernmental lending in the
context of the financial crisis
Government debt at the end of the first quarter 2012 by Member State
The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the first quarter of 2012 were recorded in Greece
(132.4%), Italy (123.3%), Portugal (111.7%) and Ireland (108.5%), and the lowest in Estonia (6.6%), Bulgaria
(16.7%) and Luxembourg (20.9%).
Compared with the fourth quarter of 2011, twenty-one Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP
ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2012, and six a decrease. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in
Lithuania (+4.0 percentage points - pp), Portugal (+3.8 pp), Spain (+3.7 pp) and Belgium (+3.6 pp), and the
largest decreases in Greece6 (-33.0 pp), Hungary (-1.8 pp) and Denmark (-1.5 pp). It should be noted that the
change in debt ratio between two successive quarters can be influenced in some cases by seasonal patterns.
Compared with the first quarter of 2011, twenty-three Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP
ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2012, and four a decrease. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in
Portugal (+17.2 pp), Cyprus (+11.0 pp) and Ireland (+8.2 pp), and the largest decreases in Greece6 (-20.0 pp)
and Hungary (-4.1 pp).
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 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.
2. 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.
3. 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).
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 EA17 and EU27
debt. The concepts and definitions are based on the European system of national and regional accounts (ESA 95 - Council
Regulation No 2223/96 of 25 June 1996) 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).
5. The sum of debt components for the EU27 is not equal to total government debt, due to the amendments for the United
Kingdom being applied only for total debt. See News Release 62/2012 of 23 April 2012 for details.
6. The decrease in the Greek government debt is mainly due to exchange of bonds in the context of the PSI (Private Sector
Involvement).
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
[email protected]
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
[email protected]
Irena TVARIJONAVICIUTE
Tel: +352-4301-39 491
[email protected]
Selected Principal European Economic Indicators: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/euroindicators
Government debt by Member State
Government debt
Millions of national currency
Q1/2011
Belgium
euro
Bulgaria
BGN
11 202
Czech Republic
CZK
1 480 037
Denmark
DKK
797 063
Germany
euro
2 057 304
Estonia
euro
960
Ireland
euro
Greece
euro
Spain
euro
684 117
France
euro
1 649 835
Italy
euro
1 866 634
Q4/2011
Q1/2012
Difference in pp of
GDP, Q1/2012
compared with:
% of GDP
Q1/2011
Q4/2011
Q1/2012
Q1/2011
Q4/2011
377 314
99.4
98.2
101.8
2.4
3.6
12 293
12 540
15.5
16.3
16.7
1.3
1 567 799
1 677 207
39.1
41.2
43.9
4.8
831 147
806 886
45.0
46.6
45.1
2 088 472
2 111 985
82.0
81.2
81.6
965
1 069
6.5
6.0
6.6
0.1
155 960
169 251
174 252
100.3
106.5
108.5
341 145
355 616
280 427
152.4
165.3
132.4
734 961
774 549
64.7
68.5
72.1
1 716 964
1 789 393
84.3
86.0
89.2
1 897 875
1 946 212
119.5
120.1
357 462
361 735
Components of government debt,
in % of GDP
IGL
Currency and
deposits
Securities
other than
shares*
Loans
% of GDP
Q1/2012
Q1/2012
Q1/2012
Q1/2012
0.4
89.0
12.5
1.1
0.4
-
10.2
6.6
-
2.7
0.0
39.3
4.6
-
0.1
-1.5
0.8
37.2
7.1
-
-0.5
0.3
0.4
57.4
23.7
1.2
0.5
-
1.6
5.0
0.8
8.2
2.0
9.8
51.8
46.9
0.2
-20.0
-33.0
0.4
65.2
66.8
-
7.4
3.7
0.3
59.7
12.2
1.3
4.8
3.2
1.6
76.7
10.9
1.2
123.3
3.8
3.2
10.1
103.7
9.4
1.3
Cyprus
euro
11 103
12 720
13 228
63.6
71.6
74.6
11.0
2.9
0.0
42.1
32.5
1.3
Latvia
LVL
5 681
6 028
6 466
43.9
42.6
44.6
0.7
2.0
2.0
14.0
28.5
-
Lithuania
LTL
38 079
40 949
46 081
39.2
38.6
42.7
3.4
4.0
0.1
35.0
7.6
-
Luxembourg
euro
7 798
7 786
8 997
19.0
18.2
20.9
1.9
2.7
0.5
11.6
8.8
0.7
Hungary
HUF
22 477 731 22 692 816 22 398 935
83.1
80.8
79.0
-4.1
-1.8
0.1
58.4
20.5
-
Malta
euro
4 400
4 600
4 831
70.5
71.6
75.0
4.5
3.4
0.7
69.7
4.6
1.7
Netherlands
euro
375 815
394 193
402 084
63.2
65.5
66.8
3.6
1.3
0.1
52.2
14.4
1.1
Austria
euro
210 755
217 399
222 562
72.4
72.4
73.5
1.1
1.1
0.0
60.1
13.3
1.1
Poland
PLN
807 500
858 968
867 413
56.0
56.3
56.1
0.1
-0.2
0.0
47.2
9.0
-
Portugal
euro
163 356
184 291
189 979
94.5
107.8
111.7
17.2
3.8
5.6
69.2
36.8
0.7
Romania
RON
164 086
192 851
211 326
30.8
33.3
36.3
5.4
2.9
0.7
22.3
13.3
-
Slovenia
euro
16 580
16 954
17 030
46.5
47.6
47.7
1.2
0.2
0.3
41.1
6.4
1.5
Slovakia
euro
28 195
29 911
32 358
42.4
43.3
46.4
3.9
3.1
0.1
41.8
4.5
0.9
Finland
euro
84 799
93 053
93 320
46.5
49.1
48.7
2.2
-0.4
0.3
39.5
9.0
1.1
Sweden
SEK
1 268 272
1 341 410
1 310 490
37.5
38.4
37.2
-0.2
-1.2
1.9
28.0
7.3
-
United Kingdom**
GBP
1 182 933
1 292 655
1 316 231
79.8
85.3
86.4
6.6
1.2
8.8
73.1
1.7
0.1
* Securities other than shares, excluding financial derivatives.
** Data amended by Eurostat. See News Release 62/2012 of 23 April 2012 for details.