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TALLINN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- The consolidated debt of the Estonian government declined by 3 percent year-on-year to nearly 2 billion euros (about 2.16 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of 2016, preliminary data showed on Friday.
Estonia's general government surplus was 0.3 percent in 2016, and the gross debt level was 9.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), said Statistics Estonia.
At the end of 2016, the total revenues of the Estonian general government exceeded the expenditures by 56.7 million euros, accounted as the Maastricht deficit criteria, and all sub-sectors ended the year positively, it added.
Local governments as well as the central government contributed to the fall of the debt level.
At the end of 2016, the debt of the central government sub-sector totalled 2.2 billion euros, of which 822 million euros were liabilities towards other sub-sectors. The local governments' debt accounted for 0.7 billion euros. Social security funds did not contribute to the debt of the general government sector, according to Statistics Estonia.
Meanwhile, the loan liabilities of the central government decreased by 3 percent, and the volume of long-term securities issued by the public-legal institutions and foundations belonging to the central government decreased by 7 percent. The share of foreign debt in the central government's loan liabilities was 52 percent.
The overall debt level of the local governments fell by 3 percent compared to 2015. The volume of long-term securities decreased by 2 percent over the year and the liabilities of loans decreased by 3 percent. Liabilities towards the rest of the world accounted for 21 percent of the local governments' debt.
In Estonia, the general government sector comprises three sub-sectors, namely, central government (state budget units and extra-budgetary funds, foundations, legal persons in public law), local governments (city and rural municipality governments with their subsidiary units, foundations), and social security funds (Estonian Health Insurance Fund, Estonian Unemployment Insurance Fund). Enditem
