(Banco de España): Last figures about the general government debt under the Excessive Deficit Protocol

According to the Banco de España, the general government debt under the Excessive Deficit Protocol (EDP), according to the spring EDP notification to the European Commission, amounted to €1.14 trillion at the end of December 2017.

On the basis of 2017 nominal GDP, the debt/GDP ratio stood at 98.3% in 2017 Q4, 0.7 pp less than in December 2016. The growth rate of the debt balance was 3.3%.

The outstanding balance of the debt of central government as a whole stood at €1 trillion in December 2017, representing 86.9% of GDP. The growth of the debt of this sub-sector, at 4.2% in year-on-year terms, was concentrated in medium and long-term State debt securities.

For its part, the debt of social security funds stood at €27 billion, with year on year growth of €10 billion, after a long period in which this sub-sector’s debt had remained unchanged.This increase, explains since Banco de España, is due to the loans granted by the State to social security funds in July 2017 and in November 2017, approved by Law 3/2017, of 27 June 2017, on the State budget for 2017.

The debt under the EDP of regional (autonomous) government amounted to €288 billion in December 2017, or 24.8% of GDP, with a year-on-year increase of 4%. The debt of local government amounted to €29 billion in 2017 Q4, or 2.5% of GDP, and was 10.2% less than a year earlier.

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