Fitch Reaffirms Malta’s Credit Rating at ‘A’

Fitch reaffirms Malta’s credit rating at ‘A’ – outlook stable

Credit rating Fitch has endorsed the economic policy undertaken by Malta and confirmed its credit rating of ‘A’ with a stable outlook. In undertaking its assessment, Fitch noted that the island was outperforming EU Member States in terms of GDP growth and employment

The few figures point towards a 3.2% growth of GDP throughout 2014. Inflation is on a downward trajectory at 0.6% and unemployment is currently at around 5.8% – one of the lowest rates within the E.U. The public deficit was in line with projections – at 2.7% with a progressive reduction to 2.1% being projected for 2015. Malta would continue outperforming the E.U average throughout the years 2015 and 2016.

The aforesaid figures are testament to the country’s sound economic policies and resilience in the face of the particularly turbulent year that has hallmarked the performance of the E.U. (whereby the GDP figures point towards a contraction of negative 0.4%). The public debt as a percentage of GDP should be reduced progressively to the below 70% mark (one of the economic criterion that must be met by Member States participating in the Eurozone) by 2020.

Other factors worth of mention in the Fitch report were the reduction in electricity tariffs (incentives to businesses) as well as reforms and restructuring within Enemalta – state energy company.

The aforesaid report is a feather in the cap for Malta and further testament that solid economic policies may be maintained in the most dire financial scenarios, to which Malta as a Eurozone member is not immune to. The said report sheds further light to the reasons why the foreign direct investment in Malta has been increasingly progressively over the past few years, and why the number of new companies incorporated in Malta (an important indicator) has been increasing in double-digit figures over the past years.