In October 2019 public debt stood at €251.4 billion (Chart 1), a €0.9 billion decrease from the end of September. This was mainly driven by a decline in liabilities arising from loans through the early repayment of €2.0 billion of loans granted under the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) of the Economic and Financial Assistance Programme (Chart 2). This was partially offset by an increase in debt securities.

General government deposits declined by €2.8 billion, with public debt net of deposits increasing by €1.9 billion from the previous month, to a total of €234.2 billion.