29/12/2025 09:15:00

Central Bank of Malta issues December Economic Update

Business activity remains around average 

The Bank's Business Conditions Index shows that in November, annual growth in business activity remained relatively unchanged on a month earlier and stood close to its historical average. The Bank's Economic Policy Uncertainty Index, an indicator that monitors economic policy uncertainty by synthesising information gleaned from Maltese news portals, declined but remained above its historical average.

In November, both the European Commission's Economic Sentiment Indicator and the Employment Expectations Indicator declined from a month earlier but remained above their long-term average.

In October, industrial production contracted while annual growth in retail trade remained unchanged. In September, services production contracted and extended a series of declines observed since February 2025.

The unemployment rate rose marginally in month-on-month terms, but at 3.1% remained low from a historical perspective.

In October, permits for residential buildings rose from their year-ago level. In November, both the number of residential promise-of-sale agreements and the number of final deeds of sale increased on a year earlier.

In October, the annual rate of change of Maltese residents' deposits and credit moderated compared with the preceding month.

In November, the annual inflation rate based on the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) stood at 2.5%, unchanged from the previous month. HICP inflation excluding food and energy also stood at 2.5%. Both measures of inflation exceeded the corresponding rate for the euro area. According to the Retail Price Index (RPI), inflation stood at 2.6% in November, down from 2.7% in October.

In October, the Consolidated Fund recorded a higher deficit compared with that registered a year earlier, as a strong increase in government expenditure offset a rise in government revenue.

The full Economic Update is available here.

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