Credit rating agency Moody's has revised its GDP growth forecast for Malta, the government said in a statement, with the agency now expecting the country's economy to grow at a faster rate than it had originally projected. 

The New York-based agency now expects Malta's economy to grow by 4.3 per cent this year, rather than the 3.4 per cent rate it had forecast just last January. It also revised growth forecasts for 2018 from 3.1 per cent to 3.7 per cent and confirmed the country's A3 rating.

In a statement announcing the upward revision, the Finance Ministry said analysts at Moody's expected Malta's economic growth to continue to outperform the eurozone average "as confidence becomes entrenched helping to attract additional investment from abroad." 

The agency predicted Malta would achieve a budget surplus this year as well as in 2018, with the country's debt-to-GDP ratio declining to 53.5 per cent. 

"Malta’s government debt is now converging more quickly to similarly rated peers," it noted.

The Finance Ministry said the agency report confirmed that Malta was on the right economic path, and contrasted Moody's assessment to its decision to downgrade Malta's rating from A1 stable to A3 negative under the previous administration.