The Central Statistics Office (CSO) estimates general government debt at end-2013 at €202.9 billion.
A high level breakdown of the composition of end-2013 general government debt is available on page 17 of Ireland's Stability Programme Update (SPU), published by my Department in April and is replicated in the following table.
|
General government debt
|
€ billion
|
|
Government Bonds
|
111.0
|
|
EU/IMF Programme
|
66.8
|
|
State Savings
|
18.1
|
|
Short Term Debt
|
2.6
|
|
Other
|
4.4
|
|
Total
|
202.9
|
The April SPU projected end-2014 general government debt at €204.4 billion and while an equivalent breakdown of 2014 general government debt is not yet available, Government bonds and EU/IMF Programme loans will remain the main components of debt at end 2014.
The 2013 Annual Report and Accounts of the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) which is due to be published in July will contain a breakdown of National Debt cash interest expenditure payable for 2013. The most recent year for which published numbers are available is 2012, as outlined in the following table.
|
National Debt Cash Interest in 2012
|
€ million
|
|
Government Bonds
|
4,075
|
|
EU/IMF Programme
|
1,369
|
|
State Savings
|
284
|
|
Short Term Debt
|
39
|
|
Other
|
42
|
|
Interest Receivable
|
-129
|
|
Total
|
5,679
|
N.B. Rounding may affect totals
It is not possible to identify the individual recipients of interest on Government bonds. The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI), which acts as registrar, publishes monthly aggregated holdings which identify types of bond holders. In the case of the floating rate bonds issued in 2013 to replace the IBRC Promissory Note cash interest of just under €0.65 billion was paid to the CBI as the holder of those bonds.
As regards scheduled interest payments, a monthly profile of National debt cash interest expenditure in 2014, consistent with the estimate from the time of Budget 2014, was published by my Department in early March 2014, alongside the end-February Exchequer Returns. The profile is available on my Department's website and it is replicated in the following table for convenience.
Budget 2014 National Debt Cash Interest Profile - cumulative at end
|
€m
|
Jan
|
Feb
|
Mar
|
Apr
|
May
|
Jun
|
Jul
|
Aug
|
Sep
|
Oct
|
Nov
|
Dec
|
|
National Debt Cash Interest
|
356
|
702
|
2,105
|
3,233
|
3,593
|
4,643
|
4,762
|
5,220
|
5,324
|
7,099
|
7,509
|
8,154
|
N.B. Rounding may affect totals
The most significant months in terms of interest expenditure are October, March, April and June and this is primarily due to Government bond coupon payments. Details of bond coupon payment dates are available on the website of the NTMA.
