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Gross general government debt decreased by over €9.1 billion in Q1 2025 to €208.6 billion. This was accounted for by reductions across all the debt liability categories, with currency and deposits falling by €0.01 billion, total debt securities falling by €7.01 billion overall, while loan liabilities fell by a little over €2.11 billion in the quarter. The debt to GDP ratio stood at 34.9% at the end of the quarter.
EDP debt instrument assets decreased by over €3.6 billion in the quarter which, when combined with the larger fall in debt liabilities, resulted in net general government debt decreasing by €5.5 billion (See Tables 3.1 and 3.2). The change in assets was primarily made up of a substantial decrease of nearly €5.7 billion in currency and deposits with increases in both debt securities and loans of €2 billion and €0.03 billion respectively (See Tables 3.1 and 3.3).
| Currency & Deposits | Long term loans | Short term loans | Long term debt securities | Short term debt securities | |
| Q1 2023 | 26.008 | 48.988 | 0.35 | 145.951 | 2.32 |
| Q2 2023 | 26.08 | 49.012 | 0.285 | 146.227 | 1.472 |
| Q3 2023 | 25.889 | 49.063 | 0.298 | 146.723 | 0.626 |
| Q4 2023 | 25.854 | 47.218 | 0.333 | 146.734 | 0.581 |
| Q1 2024 | 25.837 | 46.433 | 0.283 | 142.697 | 0.567 |
| Q2 2024 | 25.717 | 46.754 | 0.255 | 143.663 | 0.495 |
| Q3 2024 | 25.533 | 46.809 | 0.364 | 144.531 | 0.485 |
| Q4 2024 | 25.393 | 47.209 | 0.231 | 144.335 | 0.545 |
| Q1 2025 | 25.38 | 45.032 | 0.29 | 136.896 | 0.97 |
Figure 3.1 above shows that the composition of general government debt continues to remain relatively stable over time. In Q1 2025 securities accounted for some 65.6% of the total stock of debt. Long-term securities made up almost the entire total for this instrument, with short-term securities accounting for a little under 0.5%.
The market value of the State's assets in Equity and Investment Fund Shares (AF.5, Table 3.3) stood at €33.1 billion at the end of Q1 2025, representing a fall of €1.1 billion in the quarter. This drop in the value of equity holdings was due to net disposals of these assets of €1.5 billion (AF.5, Table 3.2), combined with net holding gains of €0.4 billion. The net sales of equity assets during the quarter includes a further 5% sell-off of shares held by the State in AIB.
Investment in short-term debt security assets (AF.31, Table 3.3) grew by €0.5 billion with holdings standing at €19.7 billion at the end of the quarter. The majority of these short-term bonds are held by the National Treasury Management Agency, which has continued to invest in foreign treasury bills over recent quarters for the purpose of attracting a more favourable rate of interest on cash reserves.
The market value of total liabilities (AF.L, Table 3.3) fell by €12.1 billion to stand at €206.9 billion at the end of Q1 2025. This change in value was mainly composed of the following combination of movements – net reduction in liabilities of €8.7 billion (Table 3.2) combined with net holding losses, principally on long-term debt securities (AF.32), of €3.4 billion. The large negative transaction in liabilities was mainly due to a net redemption of Irish Government bonds (AF.32) totalling €7.5 billion. This was comprised of the redemption of a single bond amounting to €11.5 billion, together with total issuance of €4.0 billion. Contained within this €4.0 billion was €3.0 billion in issuance of a new 30-year bond.
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