The country's debt has reached yet another record, the Nationalist Party said Thursday, but the government is doing its utmost to hide this on the eve of the election. In five years, Robert Abela accumulated more debt than the country had accumulated in 55 years under several Prime Ministers.
Over the past five years, Robert Abela borrowed more than one billion euro every year. And now we know that, in April 2026 alone, in just one month, Robert Abela borrowed one billion euro, the PN said.
The Labour Government tried to hide all this by ordering the National Statistics Office, which is supposed to be independent, not to publish this fact before the election, under the pretence of observing the day of reflection.
This has never happened before in Malta's history and, in the last election in 2022, these NSO debt statistics were published precisely on the eve of the election. The Malta Independent on Wednesday reported that four years ago, the NSO had published such statistics a day before the election, which at law was also a day of reflection. Yet, this time round, the NSO has chosen not to publish such data.
The PN said that the European Central Bank exposed what Abela wants to hide from the Maltese and Gozitan people. This further shows how Abela has seized control of all the institutions and raises serious doubts about the figures published by entities that are supposed to be independent, the PN said.
In April 2026, the government borrowed as much as the annual average of the past five and a half years. In just one month, its borrowed what he would normally borrow in an entire year. Abela burdened the Maltese and Gozitan people with record borrowing.
A quarter of the debt into which Robert Abela has dragged us is owed to foreigners, the PN said. Malta and Gozo's borrowing now stands at €12 billion, according to figures published by the European Central Bank and revealed yesterday in Naxxar PN leader Alex Borg. When Robert Abela became Prime Minister, this stood at €5 billion.
The PN said Abela has been caught borrowing one billion euro in the month before the election. "While Robert Abela's Government wants to know everything about you and your family, he hides his own assets and those of his friends. Now he is even hiding the facts about the country's finances. You have to pay for all this while the chosen few continue to gorge themselves," the PN said.
Abela treated the people's money as his own in order to win the election at all costs. The taxes you paid, which should have gone towards health and pensions, were spent on favours, the PN said. No wonder Labourites who never expected anything from the Government, as well as others who were sidelined, no longer recognise today's Labour Party.
After taking these people's vote and abandoning them throughout the legislature, Abela now wants to win the general election - an election he called a year early because he could no longer withstand the pressure - so that, from Monday onwards, he can use their taxes to pay for the debt he created in order to serve the chosen few. This is workers' money, self-employed people's money, and business owners' money, the PN said.