The General Government debt at the end of last year amounted to €5,243.1 million, or 73.0 per cent of GDP. The debt in 2012 was €4,871,222 million.
The NSO said ‘Securities other than shares’, which includes the Malta Government Stocks and Treasury Bills, were by far the preferred debt instrument with €4,813.7 million or 91.8 per cent of the total debt in 2013. Other debt instruments are the ‘loans’ and ‘currency’ with 7.1 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively.
The debt issued in foreign currencies last year amounted to €0.5 million.
The cost of debt - the interest rate - was 4.3 per cent in 2013, a decrease from 4.5 per cent in 2012.