The Gross Domestic Product per inhabitant in Malta last year was around 30 per cent below the average of the 25 European Union countries, Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Communities, reported.

That average was similar to that in the Czech Republic and Portugal.

Cyprus, Greece and Slovenia were about 20 per cent below average while Hungary and Estonia about 40 per cent below.

Slovakia, Lithuania, Poland and Latvia were around half the EU25 average. The GDP per inhabitant in Luxembourg was more than twice the EU25 average; that in Ireland nearly 40 per cent above average, while Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria and Belgium were around 20 per cent above average.

The UK and Sweden were 15 per cent above average, and Finland, Germany and France about 10 per cent above. Italy and Spain were around the EU25 average.

Meanwhile, Eurostat said that the euro area annual inflation was 2.5 per cent last month, up from 2.4 per cent in April.

A year earlier the rate was 2.0 per cent.