General government debt rose from €4.9 billion in 2012, to €9.8 billion in 2023, information tabled in Parliament shows.
In 2019, debt stood at €5.7bn, but then began rising more quickly, keeping in mind that 2019 was the last full year Malta had without the Covid-19 pandemic, and therefore without the subsequent subsidies and measures.
The data tabled in Parliament by the Finance Minister was in response to a Parliamentary Question by PN MP Graziella Attard Previ.
In response to another PQ asked by the same MP, Minister Caruana said that the percentage of national debt when compared to GDP was 50.4%.
The minister, in response to another question also by Attard Previ, gave a breakdown of the interest paid on the national debt since 2012. The year which had the highest interest paid was 2014, with €235 million, and the lowest was in 2022, with €164 million. In 2023, €214 million was paid.
Attard Previ also asked how much national debt the minister projects there will be by the end of the legislature, to which the minister said that national debt will remain under 60% of GDP.