Malta is expected to end the year with a GDP growth of 1.2 per cent this year which will rise to 1.6 per cent next year, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said in his Budget speech this evening.
He said the deficit will reach 2.3 per cent this year, just 0.1 per cent higher than projected, while the figure for next year will be 1.7 per cent.
The national debt will be equivalent to 71.5 per cent of GDP this year, 70.4 per cent next year and 69 per cent in 2014.