Malta posted its first budget surplus in 32 years in 2016 and its economy grew by 5 percent, its statistics office reported on Thursday in data welcomed as a "miracle" by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. The government said the results achieved would allow the euro zone's smallest state to move forward on important infrastructure projects including an undersea tunnel to the sister island of Gozo, 3 miles north of Malta.
"A deficit of 362 million euros ($388.3 million) in 2012 has been turned around by this government to a surplus of 8.8 million. We have broken the cycle of borrowing to finance annual deficits," Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said at a joint news conference with the premier.
Muscat said his government had fixed public finances without resorting to austerity measures, but Malta needed to maintain a prudent fiscal stance.
Recurrent revenues reached 3.8 billion euros in 2016, up from 3.6 billion the previous year, the statistics office said.
Total expenditure was 3.8 billion euros, down from 3.9 billion in 2015, mainly as result of lower capital expenditure and interest payments.
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