For the budgetary notification to the European Commission at the end of September 2020 (notification of government deficit/surplus and government debt in connection with the Maastricht convergence criteria), Statistics Austria calculated the data for the year 2019 in accordance with the regulations of the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010). In 2019, government debt decreased by 3.5 percentage points to 70.5% of GDP in relative terms and decreased by €5.0bn to €280.3 bn (2018: €285.3 bn) in absolute terms, of which €1.7 bn were currencies and deposits, €235.1 bn were recorded as debt securities and €43.5 bn as loans.
Quarterly government debt
According to the latest calculations by Statistics Austria, government debt amounted to €300.2 bn or 79.1% of GDP at the end of the third quarter 2020. Government debt thereby was €15.6 bn lower than at the end of the second quarter 2020 and decreased in the debt ratio by 3.4 percentage points of GDP. Compared to the end of the third quarter 2019 (€281.4 bn or 71.1 percent of GDP), quarterly government debt increased in absolute terms by €18.7 bn and in relative terms by 8.0 percentage points of GDP. By financial instruments, €253.8 bn of government debt were debt securities, €44.6 bn loans and €1.7 bn deposits.