Guaranteed Debt

Flanders’ guaranteed debt decreased in 2022. At the end of the year, total guaranteed debt amounted to 11.547 billion euros, including 9.621 billion euros of consolidated guaranteed debt. The decrease was mainly caused by decreased guaranteed debt of:

  • Flemish Social Housing Company (VMSW): -228 million euros
  • Flemish Housing Fund (VWF): -170 million euros
  • Gigarant NV: -189.24 million euros
  • Flemish Infrastructure Fund for Person-related Matters (VIPA): -132.79 million euros
  • Authorised credit institutions (EKMs): -84 million euros
Evolution of guaranteed debt (2020-2022; in millions of euros)
2020 2021 2022
Guarantees to (local) authorities 206.59 212.69 197.26
Guarantees covered by assets 10,789.92 10,632.58 10,038.70
Economic guarantees 1,299.13 1,474.11 1,311.51
TOTAL 12,295.64 12,319.38 11,547.47
Omhoog
What is guaranteed debt?

Guaranteed debt concerns debts of companies or institutions guaranteed by the Flemish government. It is not considered actual government debt. The debt will only constitute a burden for the government if the debtor is unable to meet its debt obligations.

Which entities received historically most guarantees?
Is guaranteed debt included in the consolidated debt?

In 2022, 9.621 billion euros of Flanders’ guaranteed debt was already included in the consolidated debt. That means that only a limited part of the total guaranteed debt (1.927 billion euros) can be considered guaranteed debt in the narrow sense. In 2022, the non-consolidated guaranteed debt decreased by 211.58 million euros, while the consolidated guaranteed debt decreased by 560.33 million euros.

Evolution of consolidated and non-consolidated guaranteed debt (2019-2021; in millions of euros)

2020 2021 2022
Total consolidated guaranteed debt 10,309.78 10,180.99 9,620.66
Total non-consolidated guaranteed debt 1,985.86 2,138.39 1,926.81
Total guaranteed debt 12,295.64 12,319.38 11,547.47
How does Flanders manage the risk of guaranteed debt?

In 2022, enforcements accounted for only 0.14% of the total outstanding guarantees. It mainly concerned PMV/z Guarantees, where 14.75 million euros of guarantees had been claimed. For most guaranteed entities the sum of the received recoveries and guarantee fees was also higher than the total enforced amount. Consequently, the overall balance was strongly positive and amounted to 6.75 million euros in 2022. While before 2020 the cost of guarantee provision was limited, it even generated money in the past 3 years.

The cost of guarantees (2021-2022; in millions of euros)

Fees Enforcements Recoveries Balance
2021 2022 2021 2022 2021 2022 2021 2022
TOTAL 14.71 15.44 12.16 15.78 7.44 7.09 10.00 6.75

The government budget however does contain an annual provision for expected enforcements, based on standardised provision of guarantees.

In 2022, almost all enforcements were related to economic guarantees. Those guarantees accounted for only 11.4% of the total Flemish guaranteed debt. Most of Flanders’ guaranteed debt (86.9%) is covered by assets. Therefore the risk is rather limited.

Want to know more about Flanders’ guaranteed debt? Read every detail in the most recent Cash, Debt and Guarantee Management Report.