The General Government1 (GG) consolidated debt to GDP ratio (using the categories of debt set out under the Excessive Deficit Procedure2) decreased during 2022. By end-year it stood at €206.3bn which is equivalent to 40.7% of total economy GDP. Figure 5.1 shows GG Debt (at market value), and its ratio to GDP, over the years 2012 to 2022. Ireland’s debt level grew steadily in the period 2007-2013 and fell by €8.2bn in the period 2014-2019. It increased by €30.3bn during the period 2020-2021 mainly to fund COVID-19 related expenditure. During 2022, GG Debt decreased by €44.6bn during the year. This was due to a fall in debt security liabilities, as a result of both negative transactions and negative market price changes and currency effects. The market movements were mainly driven by fluctuating interest rates.
| Government Debt (EDP) | GDP | Government Debt/GDP | MIP Threshold | |
| 2012 | 218.425779090656 | 175.218 | 124.659440862615 | 60 |
| 2013 | 228.815336466331 | 179.286 | 127.625880696949 | 60 |
| 2014 | 227.841691207963 | 195.47 | 116.560951147472 | 60 |
| 2015 | 223.230570950997 | 263.507 | 84.7152337323097 | 60 |
| 2016 | 221.048216116453 | 269.725 | 81.953180504756 | 60 |
| 2017 | 218.230929200915 | 298.528 | 73.1023318418759 | 60 |
| 2018 | 219.160532362056 | 327.441 | 66.9313043760725 | 60 |
| 2019 | 220.640198378163 | 356.357 | 61.9154943997629 | 60 |
| 2020 | 241.534957712848 | 375.25 | 64.3664111160154 | 60 |
| 2021 | 250.91777232126 | 434.07 | 57.8058313915404 | 60 |
| 2022 | 206.297530775599 | 506.282 | 40.7475538880702 | 60 |
In contrast, Figure 5.2, which complements Figure 5.1, shows the evolution of General Government debt by financial instrument composition over the same period.
| AF.2 Deposits | AF.3 Securities | AF.4 Loans | |
| 2012 | 62.09905376814 | 94.1605499426383 | 62.1661753798782 |
| 2013 | 31.35599946586 | 126.037758762679 | 71.4215782377922 |
| 2014 | 20.9178684987815 | 141.988954564794 | 64.9348681443874 |
| 2015 | 20.71320365463 | 146.31962636394 | 56.197740932427 |
| 2016 | 21.3174589987728 | 143.057329001483 | 56.6734281161975 |
| 2017 | 21.59981035044 | 146.5432291647 | 50.0878896857755 |
| 2018 | 21.6478297496638 | 146.996264280189 | 50.5164383322029 |
| 2019 | 22.2197555313604 | 149.365607494666 | 49.054835352137 |
| 2020 | 23.7331230148359 | 170.35448975775 | 47.4473449402612 |
| 2021 | 25.0773281823439 | 176.11745570266 | 49.7229884362559 |
| 2022 | 25.8742531108454 | 130.92425668201 | 49.4990209827439 |
The official measure of Gross General Government Debt (GG Debt or “Maastricht Debt”) used for EDP purposes is reported at face value resulting in a ratio of 44.4% of GDP for end-20223, below its end-2021 value of 54.4% of GDP. The drop in the debt to GDP ratio during 2022 is due to an increase in GDP for the year and decrease in EDP debt instruments. The relative composition of GG Debt is illustrated in Figure 5.3.
| AF.2 Deposits | AF.3 Debt Securities | AF.4 Loans | |
| 2012 | 28.4302768778799 | 43.1087165327484 | 28.4610065893717 |
| 2013 | 13.7036266668575 | 55.0827408289675 | 31.213632504175 |
| 2014 | 9.18087834929592 | 62.3191277294344 | 28.4999939212696 |
| 2015 | 9.27883827308621 | 65.5464104851749 | 25.1747512417389 |
| 2016 | 9.64380503642801 | 64.7177034562075 | 25.6384915073645 |
| 2017 | 9.89768518584001 | 67.1505316415457 | 22.9517831726143 |
| 2018 | 9.87761323462264 | 67.0724161398501 | 23.0499706255272 |
| 2019 | 10.0705835539892 | 67.696461747493 | 22.2329546985179 |
| 2020 | 9.82595779905756 | 70.5299520081391 | 19.6440901928034 |
| 2021 | 9.99424151998148 | 70.1893110533318 | 19.8164474266867 |
| 2022 | 12.5422020387584 | 63.4638021064941 | 23.9939958547476 |
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Gross disposable income (B.6g) increased in 2022 by €22.1bn, to stand at €76.9bn at end-2022. This represented a rise of 40.2% over the year. Gross saving (B.8g) of general government increased by €16.9bn in 2022, resulting in an end of year value of €19.3bn, and contributing to the government surplus4 (B.9) of €8.1bn for the year. General government became a net lender in 2022, after a period of net borrowing between 2020 and 2021.
| B.8g Gross Saving | B.9 Net Lending (+) / Net Borrowing (-) | |
| 2012 | -10.347200572 | -14.8630785584 |
| 2013 | -7.389124537 | -11.4754505069 |
| 2014 | -2.461875161 | -7.0473353543 |
| 2015 | 2.076100594 | -5.3576480821 |
| 2016 | 3.361444453 | -2.0716840602 |
| 2017 | 5.24300017 | -0.8599434983 |
| 2018 | 7.936433908 | 0.4387494168 |
| 2019 | 10.349164531 | 1.7997557253 |
| 2020 | -9.39839673 | -18.6523235136 |
| 2021 | 2.391226 | -6.8322028897 |
| 2022 | 19.321701598 | 8.1042115007 |
1Note the data estimates for the Government sector presented in this publication refer to the July 2023 vintage – please see Government Accounts for the most recent vintage of Government sector data.
2Defined under EU regulations governing the Excessive Deficit Procedure as the sum of gross liabilities of the consolidated General Government sector (S.13) in the categories AF.2 (Currency & Deposits), AF.3 (Debt Securities) and AF.4 (Loans) at market value.
3Further details on GGDebt and its components at nominal value can be seen in the CSO release Government Finance Statistics – Annual, October 2023.
4Technically this is known as the Net Lending/Net Borrowing (B.9).
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