The debt became the latest political battleground as the government and the Opposition contradicted each other on whether the 70 per cent mark this year is a record.

The Opposition expressed concern that the debt would, for the first time since 2010, be higher than 70 per cent.

It reached this conclusion by referring to the Budget documents released by the Finance Ministry.

However, the government hit back, insisting that Opposition finance spokesman Tonio Fenech had presided over debt levels that surpassed 70 per cent when he was finance minister.

The government said Eurostat figures showed that the debt had hit 72 per cent of GDP in 2004 and 70 per cent in 2005.

It accused Mr Fenech of making a “false” declaration in claiming that the debt had never gone beyond the 70 per cent mark.

However, Mr Fenech rebutted the accusation, insisting Finance Minister Edward Scicluna was using different statistical methodologies to suit his needs.

He reiterated that Prof. Scicluna had presided over an increase of €500 million in the debt in the first six months of the year alone, amounting to €3 million a day.