Malta registered a €392.7 million surplus last year, official figures released on Monday show.

In a statement, the National Statistics Office said the surplus was equivalent to 3.5% of GDP.

Meanwhile, debt amounted to €5,670.6 million or 50.9% of GDP.

The balance, the NSO said, was calculated as the difference between the island’s total revenue (€4,424 million) and expenditure (€4,031.3 million).

Revenue increased by €554.3 million over 2016, while total expenditure increased by €257.9 million.

The balance surplus as a measure of GDP (3.5%) was an increase of 2.6 percentage points when compared to the surplus of 0.9% that was registered in 2016.

And, consolidated debt decreased by €64.3 million to €5,670.6 million over 2016.

The NSO said the figures were the result of adjustments in calculations that were necessary to shift from the Government’s Consolidated Fund into an accruals-based method in line with established methodology.

One major positive adjustment, the NSO said, was the net lending (or surplus) recorded by what are known as Extra Budgetary Units (EBU) of €196.7 million, an increase of €23.9 million over 2016.

The EBU registering the highest surplus was the National Development and Social Fund with €171.7 million, constituting 70% of the contributions under the Individual Investor Programme  also known as the cash for passports scheme.

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