Poland's general government debt increased to 57.2% of GDP at the end of 2013 from 55.6% of GDP a year ago, according to the data presented by the ministry of finance. In nominal terms, the debt rose by PLN 47.14bn, or 5.3%, to PLN 934.00bn at the end of 2013.
The ministry also reported that at the end of Q4 of 2013, Poland's consolidated public debt (according to the domestic methodology) stood at PLN 880.20bn and rose by PLN 39.73bn, or 4.7%, on the year.
In Q4 alone, the debt (according to the Polish methodology) decreased by 1.3%, or PLN 10.37bn. The ministry explained that this decrease resulted mainly from a decrease of State Treasury debt (by PLN 9.91bn, or 1.2%).
The increase of public debt in the entire 2013 resulted from: an increase of State Treasury debt by PLN 42.60bn (5.6%), a decrease of local government sector debt by PLN 1.10bn (1.6%) as well as a decrease of social security sector debt by PLN 1.88bn (83.2%). Similarly to public debt measured according to domestic methodology, the change in EDP debt in 2013 resulted mainly from increase in State Treasury debt, the ministry added.
The central government is by far the most important debt issuer, representing 92.4% of public debt, of which 92.2% represents State Treasury debt. The local government sub-sector contribution was 7.5% of the total debt, of which 7.2% represents debt of local government units and their unions.
At the end of Q4 of 2013, domestic debt stood at PLN 612.8bn, up by PLN 36.4bn (6.3%) compared with the end of 2012. Foreign debt stood at PLN 267.4bn, up by PLN 3.3bn (1.3%).