General government debt statistics for March 2021

Published: 30/6/2021

The total consolidated debt of all general government sub-sectors[1] reached HRK 340bn at the end of March 2021, up HRK 10.3bn (or 3.1%) since the end of the previous quarter and up HRK 41.5bn (or 13.9%) since the end of March 2020. This increase was to the greatest extent due to an increase in the foreign debt component in the amount of HRK 15.6bn (or 14.7%) in the first quarter of this year, with the annual increase of HRK 21.3bn (or 21.2%) in the last four quarters.

In relative terms, measured against the annual GDP[2], the total debt amounted to 91.3% of GDP at the end of March 2021, up by 17.6 percentage points since the end of March 2020 when this share stood at 73.7% of GDP.

The data on the general government debt structure by main debt instruments and maturity are available only for the unconsolidated debt[3]. Long-term debt instruments dominate the maturity structure of this debt: at the end of March 2021 most of the debt was made up of bonds (64.7%), the second by importance were long-term loans (29.1%), and the third were short-term loans and securities (jointly 6.2%). The short-term debt was HRK 9.6bn (or 81.6%) higher at the end of March 2021 than a year ago, while the long-term debt increased by HRK 34.0bn (or 11.8%) in the same period.

Statistical time series: Table I3 General government debt (ESA 2010).


  1. This debt excludes the cross claims of institutions within the same sub-sector and between sectors, the so-called Maastricht debt.

  2. Calculated as the sum of the preceding four quarterly GDP figures.

  3. The unconsolidated debt represents the Maastricht debt increased by cross claims of different units within the general government sector.