Public debt shot up by almost a percentage point, or €329 million, in the first quarter when compared to the same period last year, Eurostat data shows.

While at the end of March 2013, Malta’s total public debt stood at €5,171 million, equivalent to 74.4 per cent of GDP, 12 months later it rose to €5,500 million. Eurostat said that, by this March, the debt to GDP ratio stood at 75.3 per cent.

According to EU rules, member states must cut their annual public debt to close to 60 per cent of GDP.

Last year, the EU opened excessive deficit procedures against Malta after ending 2012 with a deficit above the statutory three per cent of GDP threshold. Although the island managed to cut its deficit to 2.7 per cent by the end of last year, the Commission still decided to leave its deficit procedures against Malta open as it wants to ensure it was not a one-off drop but is based on a sustainable footing.

Although Malta’s debt is up, the statistics released show it is still lower than the EU average. At the end of March, the EU28 had an average debt of 88 per cent of GDP. On a country by country level, Greece reported the largest debt at 174 per cent of GDP followed by Italy (135.6 per cent) and Portugal (132.9 per cent). On the other hand, with just 10 per cent of GDP, Estonia had the lowest deficit.