Without wanting to be a wisenheimer, may I take issue with whoever in the European Commission drafted the latest Malta economic report.
Recovery in energy prices… The cuts in prices were not market-driven but a deliberate act by the government to help citizens and business.
The projections of growth rate deceleration “on the back of investment” assumes no new projects in 2017 and 2018.
The following excerpt betrays the author’s lack of intimate knowledge about the economy’s behaviour in the context of a small island State like Malta: “Growth could be stronger if a reduction in the household saving rate, supported by expected gains in disposable income and population growth, carries over for the rest of the forecast horizon.”
Having said that, I do support the projections about the reductions in both the national Budget deficits and the country’s total indebtedness expressed as a percentage of the GDP, emphasising, moreover, that nearly all of it is owed locally.