Malta’s general government debt: almost €13,000 per person

On Wednesday (17 June) Malta’s National Statistics Office confirmed that for 2013 Malta’s general government debt amounted to €5,243.1 million, which is 73% of Malta’s GDP. This figure amounts to almost €13,000 per head of population.

Viewing 2013 Eurostat figures, for Europe as a whole, the average level of general government gross debt was 87.1%, meaning that Malta was below the average figure, and overall had the 15th lowest level of debt, placing it almost exactly in the middle of the EU’s table. At either extremes, Estonia had the lowest level of general government gross debt with a figure of 10%, followed by Bulgaria with 18.9%, and then by Luxembourg with 23.1%. The highest levels of debt were held by Greece (175.1%), then Italy (132.6), Portugal (129%), Ireland (123.7%), and Cyprus (111.7%).

The NSO confirmed that 60% of general government debt was held by financial corporations (€3,171 million), then 31% (€1,645 million) was held by households and “nonprofit institutions serving households” (NPISH), 7% (€366 million) by the rest of the World, and 1% (€61 million) by financial corporations.

Examining how the debt is structured by instrument, 92% (€4,814 million) is held as securities (other than shares), 7% (€374 million) as loans, and 1% (€55 million) as currency. Of the debt, almost all of it is issued in euros, with only €351,000 being issued in US dollars, and €179,000 in other currencies. Overall the apparent cost of the debt (that is, according to the NSO, “the interest rate applicable to the whole nominal debt”) is 4.29%, which is a decrease from 2012 when the figure was 4.5%.