Deficit between 3 and 3.5% of GDP - PM

The latest official statistics put Malta's deficit at 3 to 3.5 per cent of the country’s GDP, overshooting projections for this year and placing the country above the EU threshold, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning. Increased spending in the health, energy and social services, coupled with lower revenue led to a growth of the deficit from an estimated of 2.3 per cent of the GDP. The figures are provisional, but represent the latest estimates made by the National Statistics Office, ahead of the final official figure which is usually released in the first quarter of next year. Addressing a news conference, Dr Muscat said his Government was aware that the country’s state of finances was not as strong as the previous administration used to claim. “The state of finances is not as they told us but we expected this. The good news, therefore, is that we won't be complaining about the situation but will say how we'll move forward,” Dr Muscat said. He said the government would be charting out how it planned to move forward with a plan to reduce the deficit below the 3 per cent mark again by the end of the year. However, the Prime Minister excluded raising any new taxes but...