Malta had the second highest GDP increase in the fourth quarter of 2022 in the European Union, when compared to the third quarter of that year, according to data issued by Eurostat.

Greece (+1.4%) recorded the highest increase of GDP compared to the previous quarter, followed by Malta (+1.2%) and Cyprus (+1.1%). The highest decreases were observed in Poland (‑2.4%), Estonia (‑1.6%) and Finland (‑0.6%).

In the fourth quarter of 2022, seasonally adjusted GDP remained stable in the euro area and decreased by 0.1% in the EU, compared with the previous quarter, according to an estimate published by Eurostat. In the third quarter of 2022, GDP had grown by 0.4% in both the euro area and  in the EU.

Compared with the same quarter of the previous year, seasonally adjusted GDP increased by 1.8% in the euro area and by 1.7% in the EU in the fourth quarter of 2022, after +2.4% in the euro area and +2.6% in the EU in the previous quarter.  For the year 2022 as a whole, GDP increased by 3.5% in both the euro area and the EU, after +5.3% and +5.4% respectively in 2021.

For Malta, the statistics show that the percentage change in terms of seasonally adjusted GDP compared with the same quarter of the previous year was +4.7%

Employment growth in Member States

In the fourth quarter of 2022, Malta (+1.6%), Poland (+0.9%), Estonia, Cyprus and the Netherlands (all +0.7%) recorded the highest growth of employment in persons compared with the previous quarter. The highest decline of employment was recorded in Portugal (‑0.8%), Lithuania and Latvia (both -0.5%).