Germany central government debt in debt securities
Germany central government debt in debt securities stood at 1,860,099 EUR million in Q2 2026, according to Deutsche Bundesbank. It is one of the indicators in the Government finances (quarterly) table (Value · Quarterly), with a complete series running from Q1 2000 to Q2 2026. The complete series with an interactive chart, free to download.
This indicator in the Government finances (quarterly) table
| Indicator | Q2-2026 | Q1-2026 | Q4-2025 | Q3-2025 | Q2-2025 | Q1-2025 | Q4-2024 | Q3-2024 | Q2-2024 | Q1-2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Of which securities other than shares, excl. financial derivates2 | 1,860,099 | 1,833,785 | 1,789,284 | 1,776,381 | 1,726,585 | 1,702,755 | 1,696,961 | 1,684,797 | 1,661,256 | 1,662,409 | |
| Of which securities other than shares, excl. financial derivates, of which short-term | 99,713 | 97,957 | 95,076 | 85,564 | 77,868 | 89,277 | 109,073 | 106,293 | 113,372 | 128,334 | |
| Of which securities other than shares, excl. financial derivates, of which long-term | 1,760,386 | 1,735,828 | 1,694,208 | 1,690,818 | 1,648,717 | 1,613,477 | 1,587,888 | 1,578,504 | 1,547,884 | 1,534,075 |
Understanding germany central government debt in debt securities
Tradable financial instruments issued directly by the German federal administration make up this broad aggregate, strictly omitting shares and financial derivatives. The category captures the entire spectrum of federal bonds, treasury discount paper, and notes, acting as the primary vehicle for national deficit financing. By filtering out non-tradable loans, physical currency, and deposits, this line item isolates the obligations sold into open capital markets. It remains strictly confined to the federal level, intentionally ignoring the equivalent securities auctioned by regional states, municipal councils, or statutory social security funds.
Analyzing this metric through a year-on-year lens effectively strips away the heavy influence of predetermined sovereign auction calendars and concentrated redemption dates that distort quarter-on-quarter views. The quarterly stock of outstanding paper can swing wildly based on the exact timing of large bond maturities or syndicated issuance events. Revisions to early estimates are infrequent but can stem from the absorption of off-budget federal special funds into the core central government perimeter. A standard pitfall is attempting to read these nominal, face-value figures as a proxy for the actual market value of federal debt. Because the statistical framework mandates valuation at the original redemption amount, fluctuations in prevailing sovereign yields do not alter the recorded liabilities in this table.
Frequently asked questions
- Does this total encompass the debt securities issued by local German municipalities?
- It is strictly limited to instruments issued by the federal tier, excluding all municipal, state, and social security bonds.
- Are derivatives used for interest rate hedging included in these figures?
- Financial derivatives are explicitly excluded from this calculation, which isolates the primary tradable debt instruments.
- How do fluctuations in secondary market bond yields affect the reported debt level?
- The statistical framework requires recording the securities at nominal face value, rendering the series immune to market price volatility.