27 September 2019

2019- n° 254

At the end of Q2 2019, the Maastricht debt accounted for €2,375.4 billion Debt of the general government according to the Maastricht definition - second quarter 2019

At the end of the Q2 2019, the Maastricht debt reached €2,375.4 billion, a €16.6 billion increase in comparison to Q1 2019. It accounted for 99.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) and remained stable compared to the last quarter. The net public debt increased more strongly (€+26.4 billion) and accounted for 90.4 % of GDP.

In the second quarter of 2019, the State contribution to the debt increased by €21.5 billion. This rise stemmed mainly from long-term negotiable debt (€+15.2 billion). Deposits at the French Treasury increased too (€+5.2  billion) and the short-term negotiable debt went up to a lesser extent (€+1.1 billion).

The contribution of central agencies to the debt went up to € 0.5 billion. The Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives decreased its negotiable debt (€−0,3 billion). Conversely, SNCF Réseau increased its debt (€+0,8 billion).

The contribution of local government to the debt went down by €0.3 billion: Departments, regions, municipalities and local communities syndicates decreased their debts (respectively by €−0,8 billion, by €−0,2 billion, by €−0,1 billion and by €−0,1 billion). Conversely, the Société du Grand Paris and Île-de-France Mobilités borrowed €0.5 billion both.

In Q2 2019, the contribution of social security funds went down by €5.1 billion above all because of CADES (€−5.0 billion). UNEDIC decreased its debt (€−1.2 billion) and CNAM (€−0.2 billion) and public hospitals (€−0.2 billion) too to a lesser extent. Conversely, ACOSS borrowed €1.5 billion.

At the end of Q2 2019, the net public debt reached €2,157.4 billion (equivalent to 90.4% of GDP versus 89.9% in Q1 2019), a €26.4 billion increase compared to the previous quarter. The €9.8 billion gap between changes in net and gross debt is mainly explained by a decrease in the cash position of the State (€−11.0 billion). Conversely, the cash position of central agencies and social security funds increased (respectively by €0.4 billion and by €0.2 billion). Lastly, the Fonds de réserve des retraites purchased €0.4 billion of debt securities.

In Q2 2019, the overall value of quoted shares and mutual fund shares held by general government units went down by €242.4 billion, a €5.8 billion decrease compared to Q1 2019.

The quoted shares held by the State lost €3.3 billion of value because of the drop in the price of EDF and Aéroports de Paris shares. Moreover, the Fonds de réserves des retraites and the Sécurité sociale des indépendants decreased their quoted shares by respectively €0.2 billion and €0.8 billion.

The mutual fund shares went down too due to sales of UNEDIC and the Fonds de réserve des retraites (€−1.7 billion both). Conversely, the Sécurité sociale pour les indépendants purchased €1.6 billion of mutual funds shares.