The latest published figure of 3.8 per cent real growth by the National Statistics Office and the Eurostat confirmed the robustness of the Maltese economy, the government said.

It said in a statement the figures confirm that the economy was benefitting from the various measures undertaken by the government to create an environment which encouraged effort and investment.

NSO figures show that during the third quarter of 2014 real GDP continued to accelerate, increasing by 3.8 per cent from 3.4 per cent in the previous quarter, while for the first nine months of 2014 it expanded by 3.5 per cent in real terms.

This rate of economic growth remained the highest in the euro area.

The government said it was encouraging to note that growth was rather broad based, with most economic sectors registering positive growth.

There was also significant increases in the compensation of employees, with an increase of 5.2 per cent registered in the third quarter. Profits also increased by 3.1 per cent and this should encourage further investment from firms in the coming months.

Such developments further strengthened government projections and targets to lower the deficit to 2.1 per cent in 2014 and 1.6 per cent in 2015.