Government Finance Statistics Quarter 1 2025

General Government Debt at €208.6 billion at end of Q1 2025

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).

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%.

Movements of Note in the Balance Sheet, Q1 2025

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.