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Malta closed 2025 with General Government debt amounting to €11.4 billion, equal to 46.4% of GDP, up by €776.0 million compared with 2024. The figure remains well below the EU Stability and Growth Pact reference threshold of 60% of GDP and is significantly lower than Italy’s debt ratio, which reached 137.1% at the end of 2025. Across the EU, the average government debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 81.7%, while the euro area recorded 87.8%.

According to the National Statistics Office, the largest share of Malta’s public debt in 2025 was held by Financial Corporations, accounting for 53.9% of the total. They were followed by Households and Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households, with 22.4%, and the Rest of the World, with 21.6%. Non-Financial Corporations held a much smaller share, at 2.1%. Between 2022 and 2025, households and NPISHs recorded the strongest increase in holdings, rising by 6.8 percentage points, while the share held by Financial Corporations fell by 6.5 percentage points.

Debt securities remained Malta’s main borrowing instrument. In 2025, they amounted to €10.0 billion, representing 87.9% of total General Government debt. Loans accounted for 8.6%, while currency represented 3.5%. The largest annual increase was recorded in Malta Government Stocks, which rose by €725.6 million compared with 2024. All General Government debt in 2025 was denominated in national currency, after foreign-currency debt had been fully extinguished by 2024.

The apparent cost of debt rose slightly to 2.7%, compared with 2.6% in 2024. The market value of total General Government debt was estimated at €11.2 billion, below the nominal value of €11.4 billion, reflecting changes linked to inflation and interest rates. The average remaining maturity stood at seven years and one month, three months shorter than in the previous year.

Government guarantees on borrowing fell to €905.6 million, or 3.7% of GDP, down by €79.8 million from 2024. Most guarantees were issued in favour of Non-Financial Corporations, which accounted for 69.6% of the total. As contingent liabilities, these guarantees are not included in General Government debt unless they are actually called.

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY NSO
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