The government expects the growth momentum of the Maltese economy to be maintained next year, with GDP growing by 5.6 per cent in real terms, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said at the opening of the Budget speech this evening.

That will be slightly slower than growth in the first eight months of this year, but still way above the EU average.

The number of jobs is expected to grow by 3.8 per cent next year while unemployment is expected to be 4.2 per cent, similar to this year’s. Inflation is expected to moderate at 1.5 per cent.

Exports are expected to grow by 2.5 per cent.

The government’s surplus is expected to be 0.5 per cent while public debt would be 50.8 per cent of GDP.

The government had a surplus of 31 million euro in the first eight months of this year, an improvement of 110 million euro over last year.

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