The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs has authored a Spring 2024 European Economic Forecast. This department’s Institutional Paper 286 makes for essential reading if you’re contemplating investing in Maltese residency or citizenship. For it answers the question: How is the Malta economy faring in 2024?
2023 saw Malta eclipse the rest of Europe, with 5.6% real GDP growth. This is 1.6% higher than an autumn forecast from the EC. Factors behind this fiscal success story include the perpetuation of “benefit from a low pass-through of monetary policy to retail interest rates and from government measures that have kept energy prices stable at 2020 levels.”
In addition, incoming tourists reached figures not seen since before Covid. In the first couple of months of 2024, visitor numbers are up by more than a quarter. The EC expects electronic and entertainment exports, along with financial and professional services, to match this level of growth.
This has led the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs to recalculate their predictions. This sees the forecast for GDP growth shoot up to 4.6% in 2024. The department now anticipates a 4.3% increase in 2025.
As this Institutional Paper outlines, “Maltese authorities confirmed their commitment to limiting energy inflation in 2024 and 2025.” Accordingly, “Inflation in Malta slowed down in the first quarter of 2024 mainly due to lower services inflation.”
Inflation will continue to fall in Malta, claims the EC. Their crystal ball gives a reading of 2.8% headline inflation in 2024. This is set to fall to 2.3% in 2025.
“This is not the first Maltese economy good news story of the year,” points out Latitude Malta Managing Partner, Ryan Darmanin. “Nor is it likely to be the last,” he adds.
“In 2023, Malta was the great economic outlier in the EU. To put things into perspective, compared to Malta’s 5.6% growth, the European Union as a whole rose 0.4%.” “Traditional powerhouses like France registered a mere 0.7% growth and Germany a shockingly low -0.3%.”
“2024 looks like being just as rosy in Malta,” concludes Darmanin. “The economy in Malta is again tipped to overshadow the rest of Europe, including Italy, Portugal and Spain.”
The beauty of Maltese investment migration is that there is both the Malta Permanent Residence Programme (MPRP) and Maltese Exceptional Investor Naturalization (MEIN). To decide which is the best option for you, you’re going to need to talk to a Residency and Citizenship by Investment expert like Latitude Group. So, don’t delay and contact us today.