Statistics released by Eurostat shows that manufacturing in Malta was healthy, the government said this evening.
While industrial production in the EU and in the eurozone went down by 0.8 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively, Malta registered an increase of 5.7 per cent.
This means Malta had the third largest growth in industrial production among EU states, following Hungary and Ireland.
The healthy state of manufacturing is also reflected in statistics released by the Employment and Training Corporation, which show that the number of employed persons in this sector increased by 1.3 per cent.
Customs figures also show that industrial exportation increased by 2.4 per cent last year, with the majority going towards non-EU states. NSO figures also show that direct foreign manufacturing investment exceeded a billion euros, the government said.