General government debt

Published: 1/2/2015 Modified: 31/10/2018

The table shows general government sector debt in accordance with the European System of National and Regional Accounts 2010 (ESA 2010), so called "Maastricht debt" or "EDP debt", which is gross consolidated debt at nominal value, excluding accrued interest. Interest rates on MoF treasury bills and yields to maturity on the bonds of the Republic of Croatia, for selected currencies, are also shown.

Methodology - general government debt

Published: 18/1/2016 Modified: 10/5/2023

TABLE I3 General government debt (ESA 2010) 

Table I3 shows the stock of general government debt in accordance with the European system of national and regional accounts 2010 (ESA 2010) and in line with the Eurostat Manual on Government Deficit and Debt.

As from 31 December 2010, a sector classification of institutional units in the Republic of Croatia is used, in accordance with the Decision on the statistical classification of institutional sectors officially adopted and published by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, which is based on the ESA 2010 methodology that divides the general government into the following subsectors: central government, social security funds and local government. Under the sector classification ESA 2010, the central government comprises, in addition to central government authorities, the Croatian Radiotelevision, the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (hereinafter: the CBRD), the State Agency for Deposit Insurance and Bank Resolution and public corporations that meet methodological criteria, the most important of which are Croatian Railways Infrastructure, Rijeka – Zagreb Motorway and Croatian Motorways. According to the ESA 2010 methodology, social security funds include the Croatian Pension Insurance Administration, the Croatian Institute for Health Insurance and the Croatian Employment Service.

The source of primary data for domestic and external debt are general government units (the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia and other units of government authorities system, units of local and regional self-government, non-financial corporations allocated to the statistical definition of general government sector, etc.) in the part that relates to cash and deposits, treasury bills, bonds and foreign loans, and the Croatian National Bank in the part relating to loans of resident banks, the CBRD and the Croatian National Bank. Up to November 2010, data on resident bank loans were based on the reporting system in accordance with the Decision relating to the bank statistical report and from December 2010, the data are based on the reporting system in accordance with the Decision on statistical and supervisory reporting.

Data are divided by creditor to domestic and external debt and by instrument categories, in accordance with ESA 2010, to cash and deposits, short-term debt securities, long-term debt securities, and loans.

The stock of the category cash and deposits includes cash and deposits of other sectors of economy held by units of general government sector.

The stock of the category short-term debt securities includes short-term debt securities with original maturity up to and including one year, such as treasury bills of the Ministry of Finance (issued in kuna, with a currency clause or denominated in foreign currency), eurobills of the Ministry of Finance and other money market instruments.

The stock of the category long-term debt securities includes long-term debt securities with original maturity of over one year, such as bonds issued on the domestic and foreign markets and long-term T-bills of the Ministry of Finance. Bonds issued abroad in one foreign currency and swapped into another foreign currency are treated as debt denominated in the currency of the swap transaction.

Starting from February 2002, debt securities issued abroad, owned by resident institutional units at the end of the reference period, were reclassified from external into domestic debt. Starting from December 2005, debt securities issued in the domestic market, owned by non-resident institutional units at the end of the reference period, were reclassified from domestic into external debt.

Loans include loans received from resident and non-resident creditors and, in accordance with the ESA 2010 methodology, assumed state-guaranteed loans given to institutional units whose guarantees were activated within a period of three years (the so-called third call criterion) or loans transferred by agreement from the original debtor to the state. In addition, harmonisation was carried out in conjunction with the methodology of the treatment of public-private partnerships and concessions.

The stock of T-bills regardless of original maturity is shown at nominal value, i.e. with the entire discount included. The stocks of bonds and loans include outstanding principal value, excluding accrued interest.

The stock of debt of a specific subsector of general government is consolidated within the subsector; the stock of domestic general government debt is also consolidated among the subsectors.

Shown below is data on the total stock of general government guarantees issued, reduced by guarantees given to other general government units. The sources of data are identical to those for loans.

TABLE G8a Interest rates on MoF treasury bills

Table G8a shows the weighted monthly averages of daily interest rates achieved at auctions of treasury bills of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Croatia. Daily interest rates correspond to the single yield at issue attained at auctions of MoF treasury bills.

Annual averages are a simple average of the weighted monthly averages.

The weighted monthly averages of daily interest rates are calculated for treasury bills denominated euro, separately for each original contractual maturity (91, 182 or 364 days).

TABLE G8b Yields to maturity on the bonds of the Republic of Croatia and long-term interest rate (LTIR)

Table G8b shows the average monthly and annual yields to maturity on the bonds of the Republic of Croatia, for selected currencies and maturities, and the long-term interest rate (LTIR).

The average monthly yields to maturity are a simple average of daily yields to maturity.

The average annual yields are a simple average of monthly averages.

Daily yields are calculated for each remaining maturity (rounded to the whole number of years) in such a way that bonds are first grouped according to the remaining maturity, and then a simple average is calculated for each group. The remaining maturity of a bond on a certain day is calculated as a rounded number (interval t–0.5 to t+0.5), assuming a year of 360 days.

The applied methodology differs somewhat depending on the market in which bonds are issued, i.e. the Republic of Croatia or foreign capital markets, and depending on the availability of data for the calculation of yields to maturity.

  • Bonds issued in the domestic capital market

Daily yields to maturity are calculated on the basis of the weighted average of the average trading price attained in all trading segments of the Zagreb Stock Exchange.

Daily yields are also calculated for days when there are no trading transactions, assuming that the most recent average price remains unchanged.

Daily yields are not calculated for days which are public holidays in the Republic of Croatia.

  • Bonds issued in foreign capital markets

Daily yields to maturity are taken from the Bloomberg financial service, and are calculated on the basis of daily data on the most recent quoted bid price.

The calculation of the average monthly yield does not account for days for which data on daily yields are not available.

The long-term interest rate (LTIR) is the average long-term interest rate in accordance with the fourth convergence criterion referred to in Article 4 of the Protocol on the convergence criteria under Article 121 of the Treaty establishing the European Community. The long-term interest rate is calculated as the average yield on the corresponding long-term bond of the Republic of Croatia and is published as a monthly average quoted in percentages per annum. A bond of the Republic of Croatia with satisfactory liquidity, denominated in national currency with a remaining maturity of approximately 10 years, is used for the calculation. The bond used for the calculation of the long-term interest rate changes over time in accordance with the prescribed criteria for the selection of the bond for calculation.