Malta says expects to maintain budget surplus, strong growth in 2019

VALLETTA: Malta expects to register a fiscal surplus for the fourth successive year in 2019 and forecasts its economy to grow by 5.3 per cent in real terms, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said when he presented the Mediterranean island’s 2019 budget.

Scicluna said the surplus in 2019 was projected to reach 1.3 per cent of gross domestic product, including proceeds from a controversial scheme by which the country sells foreigners the right to Maltese citizenship.

Net of the proceeds from the scheme, the surplus will amount to 0.5 per cent of GDP, the finance minister said.

The total surplus in 2018 is targeted at 1.1 per cent.

“Our unofficial target is to achieve a surplus every year,” Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told reporters.

Scicluna said the debt-to- GDP ratio is projected to drop to 43 per cent next year from 47 per cent in 2018.

He said the budget would not introduce any new taxes or tariffs, but revenue was still projected to increase by 8.4 per cent in 2019, mostly as a result of economic growth. He said the government was raising its expenditure by 8 per cent, with most of the increase going on a major roads improvement programme.

Employment is projected to grow by 3.7 per cent in 2019 while the unemployment rate is seen at 4.3 per cent, similar to 2018. — Reuters