Malta ‘S&P’ Rating

Standard and Poor’s (‘S&P’) has recently confirmed Malta’s A-/A-2 rating, reflecting the country’s  impressive GDP growth and the government budget surplus. When asked about the S&P report, the Maltese Minister of Finance welcomed this rating and committed to further improving the economy, this, not at the expense of the country’s regulatory standards, which Malta is looking to bolster and improve following the latest MONEYVAL report.

The report, which is also forward looking, highlighted the fact that the improvement in GDP is expected to continue at a pace that is much better than that of similar income level countries. Between 2014 and 2018 Malta’s GDP increased by 7.7% while in 2018 unemployment was the lowest recorded in two decades, standing at 3.8%. Standard and Poor’s pointed out that structured reforms in energy bill reduction and the increased percentage of female participation in the workforce is a key contributor to the country’s economic success. The increase in GDP is also expected to leave a positive impact on the government’s debt to GDP ratio.

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The National Statistics Office (‘NSO’) echoed S&P’s positive assessment. In its report, it stated that in the second quarter of 2019, Malta recorded a surplus of 24 million euro in comparison with the same period in 2018 in the government’s funds. The NSO emphasized that this increase was due to the improvements in the income generated from the services account as well the other services, travel and transport accounts. On a negative tone, the goods account, primary income and secondary income accounts experienced a marginally negative trend. As a result, the NSO highlighted a positive net balance of 21.3 million euro in the second quarter of 2019 as opposed to the 7.3 million euro of the same period of the previous year.

Both institutions highlighted Malta’s positive economic outlook, creating the perfect landscape for Malta company formations to continue to flourish in the coming future.