Your feedback can help us improve and enhance our services to the public. Tell us what matters to you in our online Customer Satisfaction Survey.
Gross general government debt decreased by €11.5 billion in the quarter to €224.8 billion. This was accounted for almost entirely by the movement in debt securities (redemptions of €5.4 billion in short term and €6.0 billion in long term securities). There were minor changes in the other debt categories with currency and deposits rising by €75 million and loans falling by €148 million. The debt to GDP ratio stood at 44.7% at the end of the fourth quarter.
EDP debt instrument assets decreased by €9.9 billion in the quarter which, when combined with the larger fall in debt liabilities, resulted in net general government debt decreasing by €1.6 billion (Tables 3.1 & 3.2). The fall in assets is due to a decrease in currency and deposits of €10.1 billion combined with a small increase in securities of €263 million.
| Currency & Deposits | Long term loans | Short term loans | Long term debt securities | Short term debt securities | |
| Q1 2020 | 22.5 | 47 | 0.9 | 134.6 | 8.6 |
| Q2 2020 | 22.9 | 46.8 | 0.9 | 137.7 | 17.4 |
| Q3 2020 | 23.3 | 46.6 | 0.5 | 141.1 | 15.7 |
| Q4 2020 | 23.7 | 46.2 | 0.5 | 138.1 | 9.3 |
| Q1 2021 | 24.3 | 48.3 | 0.9 | 144.9 | 12.1 |
| Q2 2021 | 24.7 | 48.3 | 0.7 | 151.2 | 9.7 |
| Q3 2021 | 24.9 | 48.4 | 0.5 | 153.6 | 9 |
| Q4 2021 | 25.1 | 48.6 | 0.4 | 156.4 | 5.6 |
| Q1 2022 | 25.4 | 48.9 | 0.8 | 153.2 | 7 |
| Q2 2022 | 25.6 | 48.9 | 0.6 | 154 | 7.7 |
| Q3 2022 | 25.8 | 49 | 0.5 | 155 | 6.1 |
| Q4 2022 | 25.9 | 48.9 | 0.4 | 148.9 | 0.712 |
Figure 3.1 above shows that the composition of general government debt remains relatively stable over time. In Q4 2022 securities accounted for over 66% of the total - long term securities made up almost all of the total, with short term securities accounting for less than 1%.
The market value of the State's assets in Equity and Investment Fund Shares (AF.5, Tables 3.5 & 3.6) remained steady over the fourth quarter of 2022, holding at €34.0 billion. This net neutral change was composed of two offsetting movements – a reduction in holdings of these assets of €0.7 billion (AF.5, Tables 3.3 & 3.4), together with unrealised holding gains, also of €0.7 billion. The reduction in equity holdings during the quarter is due to a further sale of shares held by the State in AIB, which amounted to €515 million. This sell-off resulted in proceeds to the Exchequer of €396.7 million in the quarter.
Net investment into small savings schemes, predominantly by households, continued during the fourth quarter of 2022 as the State’s liability from these schemes grew by a further €75 million. This represents a quarter-on-quarter drop of €120 million in the level of quarterly investment into such schemes. The level of Investment into State savings schemes, over a quarter, peaked in Q1 2021 at €552 million.
The market value of total liabilities (AF.L, Table 3.6) fell by €14.4 billion during Q4 2022. This was dominated by a drop in the market value of AF.3 - Debt Securities of €14.8 billion, which was largely explained by downward market price changes of €2.3 billion, with the residual movement due to net repayment of €12.5 billion (AF.5, Table 3.4).
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.