Informations rapides
28 June 2013
2013- n° 149
At the end of Q1 2013, the Maastricht debt reached 1 870.3 billion euros Debt of the general government according to the Maastricht definition - 1st Quarter 2013

At the end of Q1 2013, the Maastricht debt, which is a gross debt, reached €1870.3bn, a €36.5bn rise in comparison to Q4 2012. As a percentage of GDP, it peaked at 91.7 %, 1.5 point higher than Q4 2012. The net public debt was up by €21.9bn.

Informations rapides
No 149
Paru le :Paru le28/06/2013
Prochaine parution le : 26/06/2025 at 08:45 - first quarter 2025
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The Maastricht debt increased by €36.5bn between the fourth quarter of 2012 and the first quarter of 2013

At the end of Q1 2013, the Maastricht debt, which is a gross debt, reached €1870.3bn, a €36.5bn rise in comparison to Q4 2012. As a percentage of GDP, it peaked at 91.7 %, 1.5 point higher than Q4 2012. The net public debt was up by €21.9bn.

…as a result of the growth of the State’s debt

The State’s contribution to the debt went up by €37.4bn in the first quarter. The growth is driven by negotiable debt : the State issued €30.4bn of bonds and €6.4bn of short-term bills. The State borrowed €1.2bn in favour of the EFSF. Conversely, the Trésor deposit liabilites went down by €0.7bn.

Social security funds contribution to debt rose by €2.4bn. On the one hand, Acoss and Unedic respectively borrowed €4.3bn and €1.0bn. On the other hand, Cnaf and Cades respectively got out of €1.9bn and €1.1bn debt.

…whereas the local government reduced its debt

Local government units contribution to debt decreased by €3.3bn : they paid back €5.5bn of long-term loans and borrowed €2.1bn€ of short-term loans.

The contribution to debt of central agencies (Other central government units) remained steady.

GraphIR – General government debt under the Maastricht treaty (% of GDP) (*)

TableauA – General government debt under the Maastricht treaty by sub-sector and by category

(billion euros)
General government debt under the Maastricht treaty by sub-sector and by category ((billion euros))
2012Q1 2012Q2 2012Q3 2012Q4 2013Q1
General Government 1789,2 1832,4 1818,0 1833,8 1870,3
%of GDP 89,0% 90,8% 89,7% 90,2% 91,7%
of which, by sub-sector :
State 1383,8 1435,1 1421,2 1439,9 1477,2
Central Agencies 10,0 9,7 9,8 9,9 9,9
Local Government 161,2 161,6 162,1 173,7 170,5
Social security funds 234,2 226,0 224,9 210,3 212,7
of which, by category
Currency and deposits 31,5 30,8 32,3 37,7 37,0
Securities other than shares 1540,5 1571,6 1556,5 1546,1 1587,4
short-term 236,2 225,7 214,1 191,6 202,7
long-term 1304,2 1345,9 1342,4 1354,4 1384,6
Loans 217,2 230,0 229,1 250,0 245,9
short-term 9,7 11,4 8,7 8,1 8,6
long-term 207,6 218,6 220,4 242,0 237,3
  • (*) Explanations in the box "For more details"
  • Source : National Accounts 2005 basis - Insee, DGFiP, Banque de France

The public net debt rises less rapidly than Maastricht gross debt

At the end of Q1 2013, the net public debt reached €1 697.1bn (equivalent to 83.3 % of GDP as opposed to 82.4 % in the previous quarter), a €21.9bn increase compared to the previous quarter. The €14.6bn gap between changes in net and gross debt is explained by the rise of State’s treasury (+€13.8bn). Among the other noteworthy changes, the State granted €1.2bn of long-term loans to Euro zone countries, within the framework of EFSF.

TableauB – General government net debt by sub-sector

(billion euros)
General government net debt by sub-sector ((billion euros))
2012Q1 2012Q2 2012Q3 2012Q4 2013Q1
General government 1593,2 1619,0 1642,9 1675,1 1697,1
of which :
The State 1289,6 1314,5 1330,9 1348,1 1371,0
Central Agencies –2,6 –3,0 –3,3 –2,9 –3,3
Local government 151,6 151,9 152,3 163,9 160,9
Social security funds 154,7 155,5 163,0 166,1 168,4

    Graph_dette_nette – Debt and net debt

    The value of quoted shares and mutual fund shares slightly increased

    At the end of Q1 2013, the value of quoted shares and mutual fund shares held by general government units reached €174.3 bn, a €4.2 bn rise compared to Q4 2012. The amount of quoted shares went up by €3.3bn thanks to the appreciation of shares held by State and Central agencies (+€2.1bn and +€0.5bn). The value of mutual fund shares slightly increased by €0.9bn compared to the previous quarter : Unedic bought €1.4bn whereas RSI and FRR sold respectively for €0.4bn and €0.3bn.

    TableauC – General government holdings of quoted shares and mutual fund shares

    (billion euros)
    General government holdings of quoted shares and mutual fund shares ((billion euros))
    2012Q1 2012Q2 2012Q3 2012Q4 2013Q1
    General government 171,8 170,3 176,8 170,1 174,3
    of which :
    The State 56,1 55,6 52,7 47,9 50,0
    Central Agencies 24,2 23,4 24,5 26,1 26,5
    Local government 0,6 0,6 0,7 0,6 0,6
    Social security funds 90,8 90,6 99,0 95,5 97,2

      Graph_F5 – General government holdings of quoted shares and mutual fund shares

      Documentation

      Methodology (pdf,131 Ko)

      Quarterly national accounts

      Pour en savoir plus

      : bureau-de-presse@insee.fr
      :

      Publication calendar

      Time series : General government debt and deficit as defined by Maastricht

      Quaterly national accounts