Malta

Great Britain formally acquired possession of Malta in 1814. The island staunchly supported the UK through both world wars and remained in the Commonwealth when it became independent in 1964. A decade later Malta became a republic. Since about the mid-1980s, the island has transformed itself into a freight transshipment point, a financial center, and a tourist destination. Malta became an EU member in May 2004 and began using the euro as currency in 2008.

Economical characteristics

• Currency: Euro (ISO code: EUR)
• Central bank discount rate: 1% (31 December 2009)
• Commercial banks lending rate: 5.89% (31 December 2008)
• Stock of money (M1): $4.639 billion (31 January 2008)
• Quasi money (with M1 makes M2): $8.771 billion (31 January 2008 est.)
• is part of the Eurozone since 2008

Statistics

Statistic / Year	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008
GDP (million USD)	3 646	3 893	3 850	4 240	5 001	5 600	5 919	6 394	7 449
Govt. debt (% of GDP)					81.476	83.566	83.887	75.967	72.612
Govt. revenue (% of GDP)					37.257	38.742	38.098	38.136	39.231
Govt. expenses (% of GDP)					44.950	43.925	42.740	42.382	41.728
Debt to revenue (years)					2.187	2.157	2.202	1.992	1.851

References

Note: statistical data was rounded. Different sources may use different methodologies for their estimates. Debt to revenue is calculated by dividing the two variables from their original ('unrounded') values. It represents how long it would a government take to repay its entire debt if it used its whole revenue for this purpose.

Links

• Malta on Wikipedia
• Central bank of Malta
• BBC country profile