Abstract
The average length to maturity of the government debt in Belgium declined significantly over the past ten years. In 1972 the average length exceeded 10 years whereas in 1982 it was below three years. This higher rate of turnover of the debt creates of course problems for the management of the debt. Solutions are only meaningful if they solve basic causes. One important cause is the rate of increase of the debt i.e. the deficit. Indeed even if the shift towards more liquid assets by the public explains to some extent the shorter time structure of the debt, it is also true that the relatively rapid increase in the debt exceeded the increase in the absorption capacity of the bond market. The price for an unchanged maturity structure would therefore have been even much higher interest rates. Probably correctly, the Treasury assumed this cost to be excessively high.
We have benefited from the comments of the participants at the Colloquium session.
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© 1984 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Dordrecht
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Vuchelen, J. (1984). The Maturity Structure of the Belgian Government Debt: Causes and Possible Solutions. In: Fair, D.E., de Juvigny, F.L. (eds) Government Policies and the Working of Financial Systems in Industrialized Countries. Financial and Monetary Policy Studies, vol 9. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6204-0_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6204-0_16
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