According to the data of government finance statistics for the third quarter of 2024, the total consolidated debt of all general government sub-sectors[1] reached EUR 49.98bn at the end of September 2024, up by EUR 0.8bn (or 1.7%) from the end of June 2024 and up by EUR 2.0bn (or 4.2%) from the end of September 2023.
Measured against the annual GDP[2], the total debt at the end of September 2024 amounted to 59.7% of GDP, which is a decrease of 3.6 percentage points on an annual basis from 63.3% of GDP at the end of September 2023. The debt-to-GDP ratio decreased by 0.4 percentage points from the end of the previous quarter.
Figure 1 Consolidated general government debt and debt-to-GDP ratio
The decrease in the debt-to-GDP ratio of 3.6 percentage points on an annual level was negatively affected by the increase in nominal debt of 2.4 percentage points, while the increase in nominal GDP contributed to the decrease in the ratio of 6.0 percentage points.
Figure 2 Relative annual change in general government debt
At the end of September 2024, 70.1% of the consolidated general government debt was held by domestic sectors, and 29.9% by foreign sector. Among domestic debt holders, there is a visible increase in the investment of the household sector in the general government debt from 3.8% of the total debt (EUR 1.8bn) at the end of September 2023 to 9.1% at the end of September 2024 (EUR 4.5bn), and a decline in investment by the financial corporations sector from 66.3% at the end of September 2023 (EUR 31.8bn) to 60.8% at the end of September 2024 (EUR 30.4bn).
Figure 3 Consolidated general government debt by creditor sector
Statistical time series: Table I3 General government debt (ESA 2010)