Another month has passed, and once again, the National Statistics Office (NSO) has confirmed that Malta's public debt has continued to spiral, the Nationalist Party said Friday. The same data also reveals a sharp increase in the government's financial deficit compared to the same period last year.

As of the end of June, national debt had risen by €1,012 million compared to June 2024, pushing the total debt closer to €11 billion - a record high. This means that in the past 12 months, the Labour Government led by Robert Abela has accumulated an average of €2.8 million in new debt every single day.

Alongside this record debt, interest payments have also hit a new high. Between January and June, the country paid €144 million in interest on government debt - an increase of €17 million compared to the previous year.

Malta has never faced such high levels of debt. Prime Minister Robert Abela and Finance Minister Clyde Caruana have broken all records. In fact, Abela alone has racked up as much debt as all previous prime ministers combined.

When Abela succeeded Joseph Muscat, national debt stood at just over €5 billion. Under his watch, it has more than doubled.

Equally worrying is the sharp rise in the government's deficit, which in the first six months of this year reached over €457 million.

While government revenue increased by €70 million compared to the same period last year, expenditure soared by over €437 million - resulting in a sharp increase of €368 million in the deficit. In the first half of 2024, this figure had stood at just €89 million.

While these alarming figures show how Prime Minister Robert Abela and Finance Minister Clyde Caruana continue to break record after record when it comes to national debt, the Labour Government has nothing to show for it. Abela continues to offer no solutions to the major challenges facing Maltese and Gozitan families - from the rising cost of living and environmental destruction, to the health crisis, unplanned population growth, traffic congestion, and infrastructural decline.

As Malta's deficit and debt spiral out of control and interest payments continue to rise, government ministers and their close associates are enriching themselves - as even government insiders have admitted.