Economic Council endorses lifting of Malta's EDP

Malta is officially out of the excessive deficit procedure after the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (Ecofin) today endorsed a recommendation by the European Commission to lift the EDP.

Last May, the Commission recommended that the Council closes the EDP for Malta.

Deputy prime minister Louis Grech said Ecofin’s decision represented “a strong vote of confidence from the European Union” in the government’s policies as the economy was yielding positive results. “These results were achieved without taking any austerity measures whilst incentivising economic growth,” Grech said.

After Malta reduced its deficit to 2.1% of GDP in 2014, the downward trend is expected to continue in 2015.

NSO statistics show that the GDP grew by 4% in first quarter of this year. According to the Central Bank of Malta, the Maltese economy is expected to grow by 3.6% this year.

Data by Eurostat shows Malta had the second highest of vacancy rates in the first quarter of the year amongst the EU-28, second to Germany, as well as the second highest increase in vacancies after the Czech Republic.