What is the maturity of government debt?

I have only a limited knowledge in this area. I had thought especially in the sixties onwards that governments funded their annual deficits by the issue of National Loans which had a maturity date of up to 20 years and had a sinking fund each year to ensure cash available on maturity. I now seem to get the impression that at least some of the National debt "has to be rolled over" which i take means that we have been funding our deficits by short term borrowing which practice had led the banks into all their problems. Maybe i am all wrong!

Govt borrowings range in maturity from under 1 year to 20 years or more.

See www.ntma.ie for more info.

Here is a quote from their website on short-term debt:


The NTMA operates the following short term programmes

• US$50 billion Euro Commercial Paper Programme
• Housing Finance Agency EUR6 billion Euro Commercial Paper Programme
• Exchequer Notes
• Section 69 Multicurrency Notes
• Central Treasury Service for non-commercial State bodies
• Cash management as part of the ECB's Liquidity Management for the euro area
• Treasury Bills
• US$20bn US Commercial Paper Programme

Thanks Protocal

Worth checking out http://www.irisheconomy.ie/ if such matters are of interest.

tiger said:

Worth checking out http://www.irisheconomy.ie/ if such matters are of interest.

Click to expand...

I used to think so but have given up on that site. The decent analysis gets lost in constant moaning and people trying to prove how clever they are and how stupid the Government is. It's liveline for economists.