entities. The latter amounted to 7 percent of total debt or 8.8 percent of GDP. Thus, general government debt was equal to 110.2 percent of GDP in 1995.<sup>18</sup>

**Table 3.5: Composition of Government Debt, 1980-1995**

||1980|1985|1990|1995|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Treasury Bills (% of Total)|39.1|33.2|46.8|26.3|
|Fixed-Rate Bonds (% of Total)|0.0|0.0|0.0|4.9|
|Variable Cost Bonds (% of Total)|0.0|0.0|18.4|47.2|
|Non Marketable Debt (% of Total)|60.9|66.8|34.8|21.5|
|Total|100.0|100.0|100.0|100.0|
|Domestic (% of Total)|83.9|69.4|59.7|79.4|
|Foreign (% of Total)|16.1|30.6|20.1|20.6|
|Total Central Government Debt in GRD billion|660|3381|10328|31982|
|Intergovernmental Debt in GDR billion||||2379|
|Total General Government Debt in GRD billion|660|3381|10328|29603|
|Total Central Government Debt (% of GDP)|38.6|73.2|78.6|119.0|
|Total General Government Debt (% of GDP)|38.6|73.2|78.6|110.2|
|GDP in GRD billion|1711|4618|13143|26884|

Source: Estimated on the basis of Bank of Greece, Ministry of Finance, IMF and OECD data.

Estimating the share of different types of investors is complicated by the absence of sectoral financial accounts. An approximate indication can be provided on the basis of the shares of different types of investors in the sources of financing the public sector borrowing requirement and published information on the holdings different types of banks and non-bank financial institutions.

As indicated above, non-bank investors accounted for 27 percent of the increase in public debt between 1986 and 1990. If earlier holdings are ignored, this would represent 17 percent of outstanding debt in 1990.<sup>19</sup> The presence of institutional investors was very weak in 1990. Mutual funds were just starting to emerge and insurance companies were little developed, while pension funds were required to place their financial assets in compulsory deposits with the central bank. Attributing the total of non-bank holdings to retail investors would involve a small amount of overestimation. Foreign investors accounted for 20 percent of total debt, with the remaining 63 percent accounted by the banking system, including the central bank, commercial banks and specialized credit institutions.

Applying the same approach to flows during the period 1991-95, the share of non-bank investors rose to 28 percent of total debt in 1995. Mutual funds started to register impressive

> 18 However, the true level of public debt was probably understated by serious shortcomings in recording and reporting public debt data. 19

This assumption is not unreasonable since holdings before 1986 were negligible. But it also implies that total holdings were not affected by valuation changes. Since the holdings of non-bank investors after 1986 were predominantly in short-term instruments with variable rates of interest, this would also seem reasonable. The only exception was represented by bonds issued with a foreign exchange clause. These were affected by valuation changes. However, the vast majority of these instruments had maturities of 3 years or less. Moreover, the total debt outstandings are reported at nominal prices and do not take into account valuation changes.

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