Developments in Spanish public debt in 2018

Abstract

This note analyses the situation of Spanish general government debt in 2018. Public debt fell to 97.1% of GDP, owing mainly to high economic growth. The average life of the debt stood at 7.5 years, with securities representing 86.4% of total debt and with the holdings of non-residents accounting for a higher share. By sub-sector, central government continues to be the most indebted, with 86.7% of GDP, although financing to other sub-sectors has increased up to 18.9 pp of GDP. Lastly, this article offers a detailed description of the ongoing local government deleveraging.