Malta is set to get €44.3 million in funds allocated to member states impacted by Britain’s exit from the European Union, Times of Malta can confirm.

The figure is marginally higher than what was announced by Brussels earlier in the year, when Malta was to receive €42 million.

The funds, which total €5.4 billion shared among the member states, were approved on Tuesday, with Ireland and France getting the biggest pay-outs.

According to a government spokesperson, Malta’s secured the “second highest proportional amount, after Ireland, when compared to the size of each member state’s economy”.

The allocation has been possible following hard-fought negotiations in Brussels

“The allocation has been possible following hard-fought negotiations in Brussels. The hard work undertaken enabled Malta not only to ensure the preservation of the original allocation proposed by the commission but to also obtain a higher amount,” the spokesperson said.

Ireland, which shares the EU’s only land border with the UK, will get €1.1 billion from the fund to help cover the major setbacks resulting from Brexit.

France will receive €735 million, with a big chunk for the country’s fishing industry, which has seen access to UK waters limited by 25 per cent under the terms of the split.

According to data published by the European Commission earlier in the year, Malta’s sum of export and import with the UK as a percentage of GDP stands at 37.4 per cent, surpassed only by Luxembourg at 48.4 per cent.

In 2016, ratings agency Fitch had warned that Malta would be among the countries that will most suffer the consequences of Brexit. The agency had said that the most exposed countries would be Ireland, Malta, Belgium, the Netherlands, Cyprus and Luxembourg.

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