Written answers
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Department of Finance
National Debt Issues
Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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15. To ask the Minister for Finance the total national debt in absolute figures and as a percentage of GDP for the years 2007 to 2013, inclusive; and the total interest paid in each of these years. [8276/14]
Michael Noonan (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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A time series of the outstanding stock of National Debt expressed in nominal terms, and National Debt interest to 2012 are available from the Budgetary & Economic Statistics, published by my Department in late December. For convenience, the data for the years requested is reproduced in the table.
| - | National Debt | - | National Debt Interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | € billion | as % of GDP | € billion |
| 2007 | 37.6 | 19.8% | 1.6 |
| 2008 | 50.4 | 28.0% | 1.5 |
| 2009 | 75.2 | 46.3% | 2.5 |
| 2010 | 93.4 | 59.1% | 3.5 |
| 2011 | 119.1 | 73.2% | 4.5 |
| 2012 | 137.6 | 84.0% | 5.7 |
| 2013 | 173.9 | 104.9% | 7.3 |
| Source: NTMA and Department of Finance | - | - | - |
Whereas National Debt is the net debt incurred by the Exchequer after taking account of cash balances and other financial assets. General Government Debt is a measure of the total gross consolidated debt of the State and it is this debt measure, when expressed as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP), that is the standard metric used for comparative purposes across the European Union. It is therefore more appropriate that we look at this metric. Data on General Government Debt is provided in the following table.
| - | General Government Debt | - | General Government Interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | € billion | as % of GDP | € billion |
| - | - | - | - |
| 2007 | 47.2 | 24.9% | 2.0 |
| 2008 | 79.6 | 44.2% | 2.4 |
| 2009 | 104.5 | 64.4% | 3.3 |
| 2010 | 144.2 | 91.2% | 5.0 |
| 2011 | 169.2 | 104.1% | 5.3 |
| 2012 | 192.5 | 117.4% | 6.1 |
| 2013 | 205.9 | 124.1% | 7.6 |
| Source: CSO & Department of Finance |
Taking into account the buyback, in mid-December 2013, of €4.1 billion of the 4% Treasury bond which matured on the 15th of January 2014, the current working estimate for the General Government debt to GDP ratio at the end of 2013, is around 122%. The first official outturn estimate of GDP for 2013 will be available in the Quarterly National Accounts, due to be published by the CSO in the second half of March 2014.
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