Malta recorded the second-highest GDP growth among EU states in the last three months of 2020, following Romania, EU statistics show.

However Malta also saw the largest drop in employment (-0.5 per cent) of any EU state during the same period.

According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, GDP growth in Malta increased by 3.8 per cent from the previous quarter, with Romania's growth 4.8 per cent.

Both Croatia and Greece registered a growth of 2.7 per cent. The strongest declines were observed in Ireland (-5.1 per cent) and Austria (-2.7 per cent), followed by Italy (-1.9 per cent) and France (-1.4 per cent). 

Eurostat said that in the fourth quarter of 2020, seasonally adjusted GDP decreased by 0.7 per cent in the euro area and by 0.5 per cent in the EU compared with the previous quarter.

These declines follow a strong rebound in the third quarter of 2020 (12.5 per cent in the euro area and 11.6 per cent in the EU) and the sharpest decreases since the time series started in 1995 observed in the second quarter of 2020 (-11.6 per cent in the euro area and -11.2 per cent in the EU).

For 2020 as a whole, GDP fell by 6.6 per cent in the euro area and by 6.2 per cent in the EU.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, Portugal, Estonia (both 1.9 per cent) and Spain (1.2 per cent) recorded the highest growth of employment in persons compared with the previous quarter.

The largest decreases were observed in Czechia, Croatia, Latvia and Malta (all -0.5%).

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