29 June 2018
2018- n° 170At the end of Q1 2018, the Maastricht debt accounted for €2,255.3 billion Debt of the general government according to the Maastricht definition - first quarter
2018
At the end of Q1 2018, the Maastricht debt reached €2,255.3 billion, a €36.9 billion increase in comparison to Q4 2017. It accounted for 97.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), 0.8 points higher than last quarter's level. By contrast, the net public debt increased moderately (€ +16.0 billion).
- The Maastricht debt increased by €36.9 billion compared to the previous quarter
- State and central agencies debts went up
- Local government and social security funds debts went down
- In Q1 2018, the net public debt increased by €16.0 billion
- The overall value of quoted shares and mutual fund shares held by general government increased again
Warnings: Quarterly debt figures are based on an accounting data source less exhaustive than the annual accounts. Results may therefore be updated during several quarters.
Quarterly debt variations are not equal to the estimated deficit for the current quarter. To obtain the deficit from the change in the Maastricht gross public debt, net acquisitions of financial assets and of liabilities excluded from the Maastricht debt definition must also be taken into consideration, as well as the fact that the Maastricht debt is in nominal value. Moreover, the quarterly deficit published by INSEE is seasonally and trading-day adjusted, which is not the case of the quarterly debt.
The Maastricht debt increased by €36.9 billion compared to the previous quarter
At the end of Q1 2018, the Maastricht debt reached €2,255.3 billion, a €36.9 billion increase in comparison to Q4 2017. It accounted for 97.6% of gross domestic product (GDP), 0.8 points higher than last quarter's level. By contrast, the net public debt increased moderately (€ +16.0 billion).
State and central agencies debts went up
In the first quarter of 2018, the State contribution to the debt increased by €40.7 billion. This rise stemmed mainly from both long-term (€ +30.2 billion) and short-term (€ +8.6 billion) negotiable debt. Deposits at the French Treasury increased moderately (€ +2.0 billion) and the amounts of loans against the State diminished slightly (€ −0.1 billion).
The contribution of central agencies to the debt increased slightly (€ +0.2 billion). The Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA) and universities contracted both €0.1 billion of debt.
Local government and social security funds debts went down
In Q1 2018, the local government contribution to the debt went down by € 1.4 billion: Municipalities paid off € 1.3 billion, departments € 0.8 billion and syndicates € 0.1 billion. Conversely, regions and other units in local government borrowed both € 0.4 billion.
The contribution of social security funds went down by € 2.6 billion above all because of ACOSS (€ −1.8 billion) and to a lesser extent because of CADES (€ −0.5 billion), UNEDIC (€ −0.4 billion) and hospitals (€ −0.3 billion). Conversely, CNAM increased its debt (€ 0.3 billion).
graphiqueGraphIR – General government debt under the Maastricht treaty (% of GDP) (*)
tableauTableauA – General government debt under the Maastricht treaty by sub-sector and by category
| 2017Q1 | 2017Q2 | 2017Q3 | 2017Q4 | 2018Q1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Government | 2,214.9 | 2,236.8 | 2,231.3 | 2,218.4 | 2,255.3 |
| %of GDP | 99.1% | 99.3% | 98.2% | 96.8% | 97.6% |
| of which. by sub-sector : | |||||
| State | 1,763.8 | 1,794.8 | 1,799.6 | 1,779.0 | 1,819.7 |
| Central agencies | 12.2 | 11.9 | 11.9 | 11.8 | 12.0 |
| Local Government | 199.0 | 198.1 | 196.6 | 201.5 | 200.1 |
| Social security funds | 239.9 | 232.1 | 223.3 | 226.1 | 223.5 |
| of which. by category | |||||
| Currency and deposits | 33.2 | 37.4 | 38.9 | 37.4 | 39.4 |
| Securities other than shares | 1,890.1 | 1,910.9 | 1,906.0 | 1,890.7 | 1,927.9 |
| short-term | 198.3 | 200.1 | 186.8 | 173.9 | 188.7 |
| long-term | 1,691.8 | 1,710.8 | 1,719.2 | 1,716.8 | 1,739.1 |
| Loans | 291.6 | 288.5 | 286.4 | 290.3 | 288.1 |
| short-term | 9.5 | 8.2 | 7.2 | 6.9 | 7.7 |
| long-term | 282.1 | 280.3 | 279.3 | 283.4 | 280.4 |
- (*) Explanations in the box "For more details"
- Source: National Accounts 2014 basis - Insee. DGFiP. Banque de France
In Q1 2018, the net public debt increased by €16.0 billion
At the end of Q1 2018, the net public debt reached €2,039.0 billion (equivalent to 88.2% of GDP versus 88.3% in Q4 2017), a €16.0 billion increase compared to the previous quarter. The €20.9 billion gap between changes in net and gross debt is mainly explained by a sharp increase in the cash position of the State (€ +19.0 billion) and in a lesser extent of the social security funds (€ +2.9 billion). Loans for €2.0 billion are paid off to the Caisse nationale des autoroutes (CNA).
tableauTableauB – General government net debt by sub-sector
| 2017Q1 | 2017Q2 | 2017Q3 | 2017Q4 | 2018Q1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General government | 1,992.6 | 2,013.2 | 2,011.4 | 2,023.0 | 2,039.0 |
| of which : | |||||
| The State | 1,628.7 | 1,653.6 | 1,667.2 | 1,666.6 | 1,689.2 |
| Central agencies | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 1.2 |
| Local government | 186.7 | 185.8 | 184.3 | 189.4 | 187.9 |
| Social security funds | 176.9 | 172.9 | 159.1 | 166.4 | 160.8 |
- Source: National Accounts 2014 basis - Insee. DGFiP. Banque de France
graphiqueGraph_dette_nette – Maastricht gross debt and net debt
The overall value of quoted shares and mutual fund shares held by general government increased again
In Q1 2018, the overall value of quoted shares and mutual fund shares held by general government units went up to €257.7 billion, a €6.5 billion increase compared to Q4 2017.
The quoted shares held by the State increased by €4.9 billion because of the rise in EDF's, Aéroports de Paris's and Renault's share prices.
The value of mutual fund shares increased (€ +2.2 billion) due to the acquisitions from social security funds (€ +2.0 billion) and central agencies (€ +0.2 billion).
tableauTableauC – General government holdings of quoted shares and mutual fund shares
| 2017Q1 | 2017Q2 | 2017Q3 | 2017Q4 | 2018Q1 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General government | 234.6 | 237.7 | 244.9 | 251.2 | 257.7 |
| of which : | |||||
| The State | 57.4 | 62.3 | 65.4 | 69.2 | 74.1 |
| Central agencies | 35.2 | 35.4 | 36.5 | 36.3 | 36.1 |
| Local government | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 |
| Social security funds | 141.8 | 139.9 | 142.8 | 145.5 | 147.2 |
- Source: National Accounts 2014 basis - Insee. DGFiP. Banque de France
graphiqueGraph_F5 – General government holdings of quoted shares and mutual fund shares
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