30/01/2023

Central Bank of Malta issues January Economic Update

The Bank's Business Conditions Index indicates that in December, annual growth in business activity stood slightly above its long-term average estimated since January 2000.

The European Commission's confidence surveys show that Malta's economic sentiment edged up in December when compared with a month earlier, but remained below its long-term average, which is estimated since November 2002. When compared with the previous month, the improvement was largely driven by the retail and services sectors.

Additional survey information shows that compared to November, price expectations increased in the services sector, but fell across the remaining sectors.

The European Commission's Uncertainty Indicator for Malta decreased in December, signalling lower uncertainty. Uncertainty fell mostly in the services sector, with smaller decreases recorded among consumers and in the retail sector. By contrast, uncertainty increased in industry and the construction sector.

In November, both industrial production and the volume of retail trade rose in annual terms.

The unemployment rate stood at 3.2% in November, marginally higher than that registered in October, and a year earlier.

Commercial building and residential permits increased in November relative to their year-ago levels. In December, both the number of promise-of-sale agreements and final deeds of sale fell on a year-on-year basis and were also lower in month-on-month terms.

The annual inflation rate based on the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) stood at 7.3% in December, marginally up from 7.2% in the previous month. Inflation based on the Retail Price Index (RPI) also increased, standing at 7.4% in December, up from 7.1% in November.

In November 2022, the Consolidated Fund recorded a smaller deficit when compared with a year earlier, as government revenue increased at a faster pace than expenditure.

Annual growth in residents' deposits rose at a faster rate of 7.0% in November. Meanwhile, annual growth in credit to Maltese residents slowed down marginally, to 8.0%. By the end of the month, 622 facilities were approved and still outstanding in terms of the Malta Development Bank (MDB) COVID-19 Guarantee Scheme, corresponding to total sanctioned amounts of €482.6 million. By November, three loan facilities were approved under a new MDB Subsidised Loans Scheme aimed at importers and wholesalers of wheat and animal feeds, with the total amount of sanctioned lending standing at €14.2 million. By contrast, no facilities were approved under the MDB's Liquidity Support Guaranteed Scheme (LSGS) launched in response to the Ukraine crisis.

The full Economic Update is available here.

Back to Archive