Malta has for the year 2016 registered a surplus, both in the Government Consolidated Fund (“Consolidated Fund”) and in its Gross Domestic Product (“GDP”). The Consolidated Fund registered a surplus of €8.9m last year from a deficit of €362m in 2012, whilst a surplus of €101m in GDP was registered last year from a €342.3m deficit in 2012.
Malta has qualified as the 2nd country in Europe to register such a surplus in its GDP for the year 2016, coming second only to Luxembourg that registered a surplus of 1.6% of its own GDP. The surplus registered in the GDP is the first in last thirty-five (35) years. This also reflected in Malta’s debt falling to 58.3% of the GDP from 68.1% in 2012.
The Individual Investor Programme was acknowledged by the Government to be a contributor to the increase in Malta’s GDP, though it was indicated that the income from this does not reflect the full surplus registered. The Maltese Prime Minster, Dr Joseph Muscat, and Economy Minister, Prof Edward Scicluna, further acknowledged that save a small portion, none of the collected proceeds were spent thus far and will also be reflected in next year’s statistics as a reserve.
To view the Eurostat’s or the National Statistics Office’s data in relation to Malta’s Gross Domestic Product for the year 2016 follow these URLs:
