Central Government Debt: Statistical Yearbook 2009

Introduction (S. 7-8)

Government debt managers have the responsibility to issue debt instruments to meet the borrowing needs of governments, to manage the outstanding stock of debt and to contribute to the development of the market infrastructure. The type of debt instruments to be issued and the amounts to be raised depend not only on the volume of the borrowing requirement but also on the liquidity of the various outstanding instruments, preferences of investors and, more generally, on the financial and macroeconomic environment. Raising funds through marketable instruments will depend on factors such as access to well-functioning primary and secondary markets (in particular market liquidity), and the presence of well-developed market segments – institutional and retail investors.

The present publication provides statistics on central government debt instruments. The focus of the statistics is to analyse in detail marketable debt instruments in OECD countries with a view to providing an analytical tool primarily to government debt managers but also to financial analysts from commercial financial institutions, research institutions, central banks, international financial institutions, government agencies, etc.

The intention of the OECD Secretariat is to disseminate annually revisions and updates in the form of paper and electronic editions. It is important to emphasise that statistics do not provide data on the overall government debt in OECD countries given that the institutional coverage is confined to central government only. According to the standard methodology, the overall government debt relates to the general government sector that, as defined in the System of National Accounts, is composed of three parts: central government, state and local governments and social security funds. The concepts used in this edition also differ from the Maastricht definition of government debt, both with respect to the institutional coverage and the method of calculation. The main features of the Maastricht debt criteria are included in the Box below.

The publication includes comparative statistics as well as information about individual OECD countries on:
1) outstanding amounts,
2) gross and net issues of marketable and nonmarketable debt of central governments, and
3) on duration and average term to maturity of domestic, foreign and total debt.

Data are provided in national currency (euros for EMU countries) for the relevant fiscal year. Financial derivatives are excluded, unless otherwise indicated. They refer to both resident and non-resident holdings and are presented within a standard framework to facilitate cross-country analysis. Readers should consult the methodological country notes that provide a unique, detailed and comprehensive overview of the various instruments in each country.

Debt management offices and agencies of OECD member countries are the source of information for the data on the instruments as well as the information on methodological notes. Outstanding central government debt of OECD countries reached a total volume of about USD 23 974 billions in 2007, representing an increase of 13.0 per cent from 2006, exceeding twice the 1997 volume (USD 11 516 billions). On average around 94 per cent of total central government debt is accounted for by the European Union countries, Japan and the United States. Financing through marketable debt instruments is dominant: around 90 per cent of borrowing requirements are met through such financing – mostly in the form of government bond issues as opposed to money market instruments.