According to the National Statistics Office today, General Government debt at the end of 2016, increased by €144.4 million, amounting to €5,766.5 million, or 58.3 per cent of GDP.

It noted that the Financial Corporations sector held the biggest share of debt with 61.8 per cent, followed by Households and Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households with 26.6 per cent.

10.5 per cent was the share of non-residents, up from 8.8 per cent in 2015. The Non-Financial Corporations sector held 1.1 per cent of the debt.

The NSO said that `debt securities’ – which includes the Malta Government Stocks and Treasury Bills, is by far the preferred debt instrument for General Government, with €5,379.3 million or 93.3 per cent of the total debt in 2016.

It added that other debt instruments are the ‘loans’ and ‘currency’ with 5.5 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively.

In the General Government Sector, almost all the debt owed is in national currency. The stock of debt in foreign currencies has decreased and in 2016 it amounted to €0.1 million.

The NSO said that the apparent cost of debt, which is the interest rate applicable to the whole nominal debt, was 3.8 per cent in 2016 compared to 4.1 per cent in 2015.

It was estimated that €6,953.4 million is the market value of the total General Government debt, compared to the nominal value of €5,766.5 million.

Reflecting the positive performance of the debt securities in the local financial market, the market debt increased by €242.1 million over 2016, as compared to an increase of €144.4 million in nominal debt, the NSO said.

There was a decrease in Government guarantees on borrowing, which amounted to €1,399.3 million in 2016, down by €4.9 million over 2015.

The majority of Government guarantees are issued towards the Non-Financial Corporations sector, which accounts for 78.8 per cent of the total guarantees, the NSO said.

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