Malta Props Up Growth League Amongst New EU Member States

by Robert Lee, Tax-News.com, London

31 October 2003

Malta is set to have the lowest rate of economic growth this year amongst the ten countries acceding to the EU in May next year, according to the autumn economic forecasts presented recently by Economics and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Pedro Solbes.

The Commission has calculated that the average growth rate of the new member states will reach 3.1% this year (seven times higher than the eurozone average), growing to 3.8% in 2004 and 4.2% in 2005. However, there is much variation within this average and the EU projects Malta’s growth rate at just 0.8% this year, contrasting with top performer Lithuania which is due to grow 6.6% by the end of 2003.

In addition, the Commission report stated that half a dozen of the acceding states, including Malta, will this year be running budget deficits above 3% of GDP – the ceiling laid down by the Growth and Stability Pact governing the single currency. The other countries have been named as: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.

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