Government gross debt of euro area largely in euro

June 14, 2024

1 minute read

Across the EU, there are significant differences in the structure of general government gross debt as concerns the initial and remaining maturity of debt, the debt instruments used and the predominant institutional sectors holding the government debt. However, considering the currency denomination of general government gross debt, a more uniform picture emerges.

At the end of 2023, for all euro area members, all or almost all (more than 99.5%) of their central government gross debt at face value was denominated in euro.

Similarly, for Denmark, Czechia and Sweden, over 90% of their central government gross debt was denominated in their national currency.

Source dataset: gov_10dd_dcur

Only for 2 EU countries, more than 50% of their central government gross debt was denominated in foreign currencies at the end of 2023: Bulgaria (75%) and Romania (51%). For Hungary (30%) and Poland (24%), significant shares of foreign currency debt are noted, too. The major share of all non-euro area EU countries’ foreign currency debt at the end of 2023 was denominated in euro.

This information comes from data on general government debt in the EU published by Eurostat today. The article presents a few findings from the more detailed Statistics Explained article, which also covers data by debt instrument, sector of debt holder, initial and remaining maturity of debt, as well as government guarantees.

Apparent cost of debt increased in most EU countries between 2022 and 2023

In all EU countries except Italy, Denmark and France the apparent cost of the government debt (i.e. the ratio of accrued interest expenditure as a percentage of the average debt over the year) increased between 2022 and 2023, mainly due to new issuances carrying a higher interest than debt redeemed.

In 2023, the highest apparent cost of general government gross debt was reported by Hungary (6.8%), followed by Poland and Romania (both 4.5%). The lowest apparent cost of general government gross debt was noted for Luxembourg (1.2%), followed by the Netherlands and Germany (both 1.4%).