The International Monetary Fund yesterday revised its forecast economic growth for Malta upwards by nearly 50 per cent.

The IMF had last year predicted Malta would register around 2.2 per cent economic growth between 2014 and 2015 but it yesterday increased this to 3.1 per cent.

This significant increase comes just a few weeks after the international organisation made its biggest downward revision of its world economic growth forecast for the past three years.

The government said the IMF had remarked that unemployment had gone down to a record level. The IMF praised the free childcare service, the tapering of social benefits and measures taken in the employment sector.

It also noted that Malta had made impressive strides in improving its external balances, overturning its trade imbalance of 2.5 per cent in 2009 to a nine per cent surplus last year.

Malta has made impressive strides in improving its external balances

The Fund also observed, the government said, that economic growth led to a strong reduction in the government deficit which was expected to drop to 1.7 per cent by next year.

Debt was forecast to fall to less than 70 per cent by 2016 and nearly 60 per cent by 2020.

While welcoming the IMF’s report, the government said it would continue to work hard to strengthen the economy and implement the necessary reforms which were left to fall behind by the previous administration, including in the court, pensions and energy sectors.

PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco, meanwhile, said the Economic Update published by the Central Bank this week confirmed his concerns over the state of certain sectors of the economy. Dr de Marco said the Opposition had repeatedly warned that, while the general performance of the economy was positive, there were certain areas – particularly manufacturing – showing signs of weak performance that required attention.

The Opposition had also repeatedly questioned the economic rationale behind the government’s increased role in the economy, facts highlighted in the Central Bank report, he said.

The Opposition called on the government to be more conscious of the different realities of various sectors within the economy and to focus its energies in a responsible manner on those sectors facing an uncertain future.