Figures released by the National Statistics Office today show that at the end of 2012, the General Government debt amounted to €4,871.2 million, or 72.1 per cent of GDP.

In 2012 the sector with the biggest share of debt was the Financial Corporations sector, with 60.8 per cent, followed by the Households and Non-Profit Institutions serving households (NPISH) with 31.7 per cent.

The share of non-residents was 5.8 per cent, up from 4.5 per cent in 2011. The Non-Financial Corporations sector holds 1.7 per cent of the debt.

The ‘securities other than shares,’ which includes the Malta Government Stocks and Treasury Bills, is by far the preferred debt instrument for General Government, with €4,476.9 million or 91.9 per cent of the total debt in 2012. Other debt instruments are the ‘loans’ and ‘currency’ with 7.1 per cent and 1.0 per cent respectively.

Almost all the debt owed by the General Government Sector is in national currency, the debt issued in foreign currencies is decreasing and in 2012 it amounted to €0.9 million. The apparent cost of debt, which is the interest rate applicable to the whole nominal debt, was 4.49 per cent in 2012, a marginal drop from 4.53 per cent in 2011.

The market value of the total General Government debt for 2012 is estimated at €5,286.1 million compared to the nominal value of €4,871.2 million.

For 2012, the time structure of the debt by initial maturity shows that €1,873.6 million, or 38.5 per cent, was issued with a maturity of 15 to 30 years. This was followed with debt issued for 10 to 15 years (23.4 per cent), 1 to 5 years (15.4 per cent) and 7 to 10 years (11.1 per cent).

The average remaining maturity of total debt for 2012 increased to seven years two months from six years three months in 2011. In 2009 the average remaining maturity was five years three months, showing that debt is being issued on a longer term basis.

The biggest share of debt by remaining maturity in 2012 is in the 1 to 5 year category with €1,786.0 million, followed by the categories 7 to 10 years (€971.1 million) and 15 to 30 years (€814.2 million).

The Government guarantees on borrowing amounted to €1,186.0 million in 2012, an increase of €117.1 million over the comparative period of 2011. The majority of Government guarantees are issued towards the Public Non-Financial Corporations, which account for 77.9 per cent of the total guarantees.

The data in this release are consistent with the first notification for 2013 of the gross General Government nominal debt reported under the Maastricht Treaty.

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