Economy of Malta

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Economy of Malta

Central Bank of Malta, Valletta
Currency	Euro (EUR, €)[note 1]
Fiscal year	Calendar year
Trade organisations	EU, WTO and the OSCE
Country group	Developed/Advanced[1] High-income economy[2]
Statistics
Population	514,564 (1 January 2020)[3]
GDP	$22.7 billion (nominal, 2024)[4] $36.9 billion (PPP, 2024)[4]
GDP rank	118th (nominal, 2024) 140th (PPP, 2024)
GDP growth	6.9% (2022)[5] 3.5% (2023f)[5] 3.5% (2024f)[5]
GDP per capita	$41,738 (nominal, 2024)[4] $67,682 (PPP, 2024)[4]
GDP per capita rank	25th (nominal, 2024) 20th (PPP, 2024)
GDP by sector	agriculture: 1.4% industry: 11.4% services: 87.2% (2015 est.)[6]
Inflation (CPI)	0.8% (2020 est.)[4] 1.5% (2019)[4] 1.7% (2018)[4]
Population below poverty line	15.1% (2012) 20.2% at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE, 2019)[7]
Gini coefficient	28.0 low (2019, Eurostat)[8]
Human Development Index	0.915 very high (2022)[9] (25th) 0.837 very high IHDI (23rd) (2022)[9]
Labour force	226,582 (2019)[10] 75.5% employment rate (Target: 70%; 2018)[11]
Labour force by occupation	Public Administration: 26.6% Trade, Transport, Accommodation & Food: 28.6% Manufacturing & Industry: 15.7% Professional, Scientific & Technical: 7.7% Construction: 5.6% Financial & Insurance: 4.4% Agriculture & Fishing: 1.6% Information & Communication: 3.5% Other Services: 5.6% (2014 est.)[12]
Unemployment	4.1% (August 2020)[13] 8.7% youth unemployment (2018)[14]
Average gross salary	€1,829 monthly (Q3 2023)[15]
Average net salary	€1,416 monthly (Q3 2023)[15]
Main industries	Tourism, electronics, ship building and repair, construction, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, footwear, clothing, tobacco, aviation services, financial services, information technology services
External
Exports	$4.938 billion (2014 est.)
Export goods	Machinery and mechanical appliances, mineral fuels, oils and products, pharmaceutical products, printed books and newspapers, aircraft and parts, toys, games and sports equipment
Main export partners	Germany 12.4%  France 9.13%  Italy 8.51%  Japan 4.45%  Singapore 4.38%  United States 3.81%  Spain 3.72%  Hong Kong 3.12%  China 2.95%  Libya 2.73% (2019)[16]
Imports	$8.384 billion (2014 est.)
Import goods	Mineral fuels, oils and products, electrical machinery, aircraft and parts, machinery and mechanical appliances, plastic and other semi-manufactured goods, vehicles and parts
Main import partners	Russia 22%  Italy 11.5%  United Kingdom 10.7%  Germany 5.89%  Turkey 5.33%  France 5.08%  Greece 5.01%  China 4.18%  Spain 2.37%  Netherlands 2.18% (2019)[17]
FDI stock	$2.03 billion (2017)[18]
Gross external debt	$5.241 billion (2013 est.)[19]
Public finances
Government debt	43.1% of GDP (2019)[20] [20]
Budget balance	€71 million surplus (2019)[20] +0.5% of GDP (2019)[20]
Revenues	38.2% of GDP (2019)[20]
Expenses	37.7% of GDP (2019)[20]
Economic aid	€855 million from European Structural and Investment Funds (2007–2013)[21] €828 million from European Structural and Investment Funds (2014–2020)[22]
Credit rating	Standard & Poor's: BBB+ (Domestic) BBB+ (Foreign) AAA (T&C Assessment) Outlook: Stable[23] Moody's: A3 Outlook: Positive[24] Fitch: A Outlook: Stable[25] Scope Ratings: A+ Outlook: Stable[26]
Foreign reserves	$928 million (October 2020)
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of Malta is a highly industrialised service-based economy. It is classified as an advanced economy by the International Monetary Fund^[27] and is considered a high-income country by the World Bank^[28] and an innovation-driven economy by the World Economic Forum.^[29] It is a member of the European Union and of the eurozone, having formally adopted the euro on 1 January 2008.^[30]

The strengths of Malta's economy are its advantageous location, being situated in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea at a crossroads between Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, its fully developed open market economy, multilingual population (88% of Maltese people speak English),^[31] productive labour force, low corporate tax^[32] and well developed finance and ICT clusters. The economy is dependent on foreign trade, manufacturing (especially electronics), tourism and other services in the tertiary sector of the economy. In 2014, over 1.7 million tourists visited the island.^[33]

Malta's GDP per capita in 2024, adjusted by purchasing power parity, stood at $67,682^[4] and ranked 15th in the list of EU countries in terms of purchasing power standard.^[34] In the 2013 calendar year, Malta recorded a budget deficit of 2.7%,^[35] which is within the limits for eurozone countries imposed by the Maastricht criteria, and Government gross debt of 69.8%.^[36] At 5.9%, Malta had the sixth-lowest unemployment rate in the EU in 2015.^[37]

Malta is the 33rd-most democratic country in the world according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index.

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