General Government Debt at 44.4% of GDP in Q3

Ljubljana, 29 December (STA) - General government debt stood at EUR

15.88bn at the end of the third quarter of 2011, which represented 44.4% of

Slovenia's gross domestic product (GDP). Compared to the end of 2010, it

increased by EUR 2.15bn or 5.6 percentage points of GDP, the Statistics

Office said on Thursday.

Compared to the end of the second quarter, the consolidated gross debt

in the third quarter was down by EUR 6m, and its share of GDP was also down

compared to the end of the first quarter, when it stood at 46.1%.

The

debt particularly increased at the central government level - from EUR

13.2bn or 37.3% of GDP at the end of 2010 to EUR 15.31bn or 42.8% of GDP at

the end of the third quarter of 2011.

At the local level,

consolidated gross debt increased from EUR 626m at the end of last year to

EUR 635m at the end of the third quarter, which is just below 2% of

GDP.

At the level of health and pension purses, consolidated gross

debt was up by EUR 52m or 0.1% to EUR 83m or 0.2% of GDP, according to the

statisticians.

Long-term debt securities accounted for the bulk of

the general government debt (90% or 39.8% of GDP) at the end of the third

quarter.