Contrary to most received wisdom, Malta’s debt, though high, is lower than the EU17 and EU27 averages and is on the decrease.

In fact, according to a Eurostat publication issued yesterday, at the end of the third quarter of 2012, Malta registered the second highest decrease in debt compared to the second quarter. Malta’s debt to GDP ratio in Q3 of 2012 stood at just above 70%, almost the same level as that of Austria and just above that of the Netherlands. At the end of the third quarter of 2012, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area (EA17) stood at 90%, compared with 89.9% at the end of the second quarter of 2012. In the EU27 the ratio was 85.1%, compared with 85%. Compared with the third quarter of 2011, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 86.8% to 90%) and the EU27 (from 81.5% to 85.1%). The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the third quarter of 2012 were recorded in Greece (152.6%), Italy (127.3%), Portugal (120.3%) and Ireland (117%), and the lowest in Estonia (9.6%), Bulgaria (18.7%) and Luxembourg (20.9%). Compared with the second quarter of 2012, 15 member states registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2012, 11 a decrease and one member state registered no change. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Ireland (+5.9 percentage points - pp), Greece (+3.4 pp) and Portugal (+2.9 pp), and the largest decreases in Latvia (-2.6 pp), Malta (-2.5 pp) and Austria (-1.3 pp). Compared with the third quarter of 2011, 22 member states registered an increase in their debt to GDP ratio at the end of the third quarter of 2012, and five a decrease. The highest increases in the ratio were recorded in Cyprus (+17.5 pp), Ireland (+13.4 pp) and Spain (+10.7 pp), and the largest decreases in Greece (-11.1 pp), Hungary (-4.8 pp) and Latvia (-3.6 pp).sing