Malta government debt below EU-27 average

At the end of the first quarter of 2012, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA17) stood at 88.2%, compared with 87.3% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011. In the EU27 the ratio increased from 82.5% to 83.4%. Compared with the first quarter of 2011, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 86.2% to 88.2%) and the EU27 (from 80.4% to 83.4%).

Malta's government debt was at 75% of its gross domestic product.

At the end of the first quarter of 2012, securities other than shares accounted for 78.3% of euro area and 79.3% of EU27 general government debt. Loans made up 17.8% of euro area and 15.6% of EU27 government debt. Currency and deposits represented 2.8% of euro area and 3.8% of EU27 government debt.

Due to the involvement of EU governments in financial assistance to certain Member States, and in order to obtain a more complete picture of the evolution of government debt, quarterly data on intergovernmental lending (IGL) is also published. The share of IGL in GDP at the end of the first quarter of 2012 is similar for both the euro area and the EU27, amounting to 1.2% and 0.9% of GDP respectively.

The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the first quarter of 2012 were recorded in Greece (132.4%), Italy (123.3%), Portugal (111.7%) and Ireland (108.5%), and the lowest in Estonia (6.6%), Bulgaria (16.7%) and Luxembourg (20.9%).

Compared with the fourth quarter of 2011, twenty-one Member States registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the first quarter of 2012, and six a decrease. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Lithuania ( 4.0 percentage points - pp), Portugal ( 3.8 pp), Spain ( 3.7 pp) and Belgium ( 3.6 pp), and the largest decreases in Greece⁶ (-33.0 pp), Hungary (-1.8 pp) and Denmark (-1.5 pp). It should be noted that the change in debt ratio between two successive quarters can be influenced in some cases by seasonal patterns.