Malta’s national debt in numbers

Malta’s national debt rose from €4.9 billion in 2012, to €9.8 billion in 2023, information tabled in parliament shows.

The data was tabled by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana in reply to a parliamentary question by Opposition MP Graziella Attard Previ.

The national debt steadied at around €5.7 billion between 2013 and 2019, before the pandemic hit in 2020.

Due to a number of financial aid schemes by government in the pandemic years, the national debt rose to €6.9 billion in 2020, €8.3 billion in 2021, €8.9 billion in 2022 and €9.8 billion in 2023.

In reply to another parliamentary question by the Opposition MP, Caruana said the public debt as a percentage of GDP for 2023 stood at 50.4%.

The minister also provided a breakdown of the yearly interest paid on national debt by government. In the past 12 years, the year which saw the highest amount paid was 2014 at €235 million, while the lowest was 2022 at €164 million.

Asked what the projections are for national debt by the end of this legislature (2027), the minister did not provide a figure, but said it will be less than 60% of the GDP, as is established in the Economic Governance Framework.

Last week it was announced Malta is set to face an excessive deficit procedure after the European Commission recommended action against seven EU member states.

The last time Malta faced an excessive deficit procedure was in 2012 when a Nationalist government was forced to make spending cuts to the tune of 0.59% of GDP to meet deficit projections.

EU member states are required to keep their annual deficit below 3% of GDP and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 60% or less.

Following an assessment of 12 member states to determine compliance with the deficit criterion, the European Commission on Wednesday recommended the opening of a deficit-based excessive deficit procedure for Malta, Belgium, France, Italy, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.