Malta’s debt in proportion to the gross domestic product rose to 76.6 per cent by the end of September, still below the EU and eurozone average of 86.8 per cent and 92.7 per cent respectively.

For the first time since 2007, the euro area average registered a drop in absolute terms over the previous quarter. In the corresponding period, the overall average of the debt to GDP ratio in the EU increased by 0.1 per cent mainly due to exchange rate effects, Eurostat said.

Compared with the third quarter of 2012, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the eurozone (to 92.7 per cent from 90.0 per cent) and the EU28 (to 86.8 per cent from 84.9 per cent).

In Malta, there was a 4.3 per cent increase in the third quarter of 2012 and a rise of 0.9 per cent in the second quarter.

The highest ratios of government debt to GDP at the end of the third quarter of last year were recorded in Greece (171.8 per cent), Italy (132.9 per cent), Portugal (128.7 per cent) and Ireland (124.8 per cent). The lowest were those in Estonia (10 per cent), Bulgaria (17.3 per cent) and Luxembourg (27.7 per cent).

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