Government, corporate debt rises 6% to €969bn

The total level of Government and corporate debt was €969.2bn at the end of May, which is a 6% increase on the same month last year.

Long-term Government debt outstanding at the end of May was €115.5bn, a marginal decrease from the €115.6bn outstanding at the end of April. However, there was a 39% increase on the amount of long-term Government debt over the past 12 months.

Most of the increase stemmed from the restructuring of the €28bn in promissory notes last February. With agreement from the ECB, the Government swapped the promissory notes, which had a repayment schedule of €3.1bn every March for the next 10 years, with long dated bonds with an average maturity of 37.5 years.