PUBLIC FINANCES

Finland's debt relative to GDP is close to 70%

Minister of Finance Annika Saarikko (Center Party). Photo: Lauri Heikkinen/Vnk.
General government debt has grown by 10.4 billion euros compared with the respective period of the year before

Finland's general government debt for the purpose of excessive deficit procedure (EDP) grew by 1.5 billion euros during the first quarter of 2021 (January-March) and amounted to 165.7 billion at the end of the quarter, according to Statistics Finland's data.

Relative to GDP, general government debt stood at 69.8%.

Correspondingly, general government debt has grown by 10.4 billion euros compared with the respective period of the year before.

Central government

During the first quarter, central government debt grew by 3 billion euros and was 138.9 billion at the end of March.

The stock of long-term bonds grew by 4.9 billion euros and the amount of short-term debt instruments with a maturity of under one year fell by 1.3 billion euros.

The stock of long-term loans went down by 0.1 billion euros and the stock of short-term loans fell by 0.3 billion euros.

Source: Statistics Finland.

Local government

The local government sector’s debt fell by 0.2 billion and stood at 25.9 billion euros at the end of the first quarter of 2021.

The loan stock fell by 0.2 billion euros but the amount of debt instruments remained almost on level with the previous quarter.

Social security funds

Social security funds' debt fell by 1.2 billion and totaled 2.4 billion euros at the end of the quarter.

Of them, employment pension schemes' debt decreased by 1.1 billion due to cash collateral received in connection with derivative contracts and securities lending.

Other social security funds’ debt went down by 0.1 billion euros.