AFME Q2 2025 Government Bond Data Report

Report highlights include:

 

1. EU Member States and the UK issued EUR 1,023 bn in bonds and bills throughout 2Q25, which represents a decrease of 6.5% (QoQ) compared to 1Q25, and an increase of 7.7% (YoY) compared to 2Q24.  The increase in issuance volumes has been accompanied by strong investor demand, as reflected by a marked increase in bid-cover ratios, which in Q2 2025 rose to the highest level since records began in 2010.

 

1. Third-highest average trading volumes in European (EU+UK) government bonds during Q2 2025, according to MarketAxess TraX, with trading increasing 10.5% (YoY) and decreasing 2.3% (QoQ). This places Q2 2025 among the top three quarters for average daily traded volume (since 2014), with volumes narrowly below the peak reached in Q1 2024.

 

1. Outstanding amount of European ESG government bonds reached EUR 598.8 bn during 2Q25. Volumes were driven by new green bond issuance by Germany (EUR 3.0 bn) and tap issuance by France (EUR 5.0 bn), the Netherlands (EUR 5.0 bn), Italy (EUR 4.1 bn), the UK (EUR 3.1 bn), Spain (EUR 1.8 bn), Austria (EUR 1.1 bn), Belgium (EUR 1.0bn) and the European Commission (EUR 1.9 bn). Most recently in September 2025, Denmark became the first sovereign to issue a green bond aligned with the EU green bond (EuGB) framework.

 

1. During 2Q25 there were 3 long-term credit rating upgrades for European countries and 2 downgrades. This follows 2 upgrades and no downgrades in 1Q25, bringing the 2025 year-to-date total to 11 upgrades and 4 downgrades (there were 6 further upgrades and 2 downgrades in 3Q25 to date)

 

1. There was 1 entry and 1 exit in European primary dealership from March 2025 to June 2025 with a net change of 0. Changes in primary dealership affected sovereign debt markets in Germany and Italy. This follows 3 entries and 1 exit in total of banks to primary dealer systems from January 2025 to March 2025.

 

1. The average bid-cover ratio (demand/amount allocated) was 2.64 in 2Q25, an increase of 3.6% (QoQ) from 1Q25 and an increase of 5.6% from 2Q24 (YoY). This represents the highest average bid-cover ratio for European countries since records began in 2010.