General government continued in small deficit
At the end of 2017, the total expenditures of the general government exceeded the revenues by 66.1 million euros, accounted as the Maastricht deficit criteria. The central government as well as the local government sub-sectors ended the year in deficit. The budget surplus of social security funds increased to 58.9 million euros. By the end of 2017, the deficit of the central government sub-sector was 67.4 million euros and the consolidated budget of the local government sector was 57.6 million euros in deficit.
The consolidated debt of the general government (Maastricht debt) amounted to slightly over 2 billion euros by the end of 2017, having risen by 4% compared to 2016. The debt level increased in the local government as well as the central government sub-sectors. At the end of 2017, the debt of the central government sub-sector totalled 2.3 billion euros, of which 898 million euros were liabilities towards other sub-sectors.
The share of foreign debt in the central government’s loan liabilities was 49%. Long-term loan liabilities decreased by 3% year on year. The volume of long-term securities issued by the public legal institutions, foundations and enterprises belonging to the central government was 98.6 million euros and it increased by 83% compared to the previous year.
The overall debt level of the local government sub-sector increased by 7% compared to 2016 and stood at 0.8 billion euros at the end of 2017. The volume of long-term securities decreased by 1% and loan liabilities increased by 9% year on year. Liabilities towards the rest of the world accounted for 22% of the local government debt.
Social security funds did not contribute to the debt of the general government sector.
In Estonia, the general government sector comprises three sub-sectors: 1) central government (state budget units and extra-budgetary funds, foundations, legal persons in public law); 2) local governments (city and rural municipality governments with their subsidiary units, foundations); 3) social security funds (Estonian Health Insurance Fund, Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund).
Eurostat publishes the data on the preliminary debt and deficit levels of the Member States on 23 April 2018.