VALLETTA, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Malta aims at having a budgetary financial surplus for the fourth year running, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced in a speech marking the 2019 budget on Monday evening.
"Our unofficial target is to achieve a surplus every year, even without the revenue from the Individual Investor Program," Muscat told media.
In fact, Malta's extraordinary financial growth looks set to continue with the announcement of the country's 2019 budget.
The 2019 Budget aims at keeping up the momentum of Malta's economic growth, with the financial surplus projected to reach 1.3 percent. The figure is 0.5 percent if the Individual Investor Program -- Malta's citizenship by investment scheme -- is excluded.
Malta's Finance Minister Edward Scicluna, presenting the Budget on Monday, said that the country's debt-to-GDP is projected to drop to 43 percent next year. Economic growth in real terms will be around 5.3 percent.
Earlier on Monday, the EU's statistics office Eurostat announced that Malta was the country with the best financial performance in the EU in 2017, with a surplus of 3.5 percent.
