Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1176480
maltatoday | TUESDAY • 15 OCTOBER 2019 13 BUDGET 2020 Position may be co-funded through European Union Funding/Bilateral Funds EU FUND SUPPORT OFFICER Applications are invited for the positions of EU Fund Support Officer in the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality. Applicants must be in possession of a recognised qualification at MQF Level 5 in Accounting, Business Management/Administration, Business Studies, Financial Services, Insurance, Marketing, Economics or Banking or a comparable professional qualification. Applications will be received at the Corporate Services Directorate, Ministry for European Affairs and Equality, 31B, Tal-Pilar, Marsamxett Road, Valletta, VLT 1850 by not later than noon of Friday, 25 th October, 2019. Further details may be obtained from the Government Gazette of 11 th October 2019. Application forms may be downloaded from: https://publicservice.gov.mt/en/people/Pages/PeopleResourcingandCompli ance/FormsandTemplates.aspx Consolidated fund Income from taxes Other income Total income Recurrent expenditure Capital expenditure Balance before interest Interest payments Recurrent balance (Deficit) Consolidated fund Financing Direct payments on loans Early MGRSB repayments Contribution to sinking funds - local Contribution to sinking funds - foreign Contribution to special sinking funds MGS Equity acquisition EFSF/ESM credit line facility Repayment of government loans Balance from converted stocks' sinking funds Sale of shares and assets Financing requirement Foreign loans Consolidated Fund balance 1 January Local loans Consolidated Fund balance 31 December Balance/Deficit in Consolidated Fund Adjustment for Extended Government Balance for Extended Government Gross Domestic Product Balance of Extended Government as % of GDP Actual Approved Revised THE Maltese economy grew by 4.7% in the first six months of 2019, three times the EU av-er- age of 1.4% - in nominal terms, Malta's GDP was of 7.3%. More impressive was the re- duction of national debt, down from 45.8% of GDP in 2018, to 43.1% in 2019, and now 40.4% in 2020. Malta is expecting economic growth of 4.3% in real terms, far above the EU average of 1.6%. This will be driven by in- vestment growth of 9.7% and private consumption growth of 4%, as well as public sector consumption of 4.9%. Exports are expected to grow by 1.6%, driven by financial services, gaming and tour- ism. Im-ports will grow by some 2%. This will also drive job creation up by 4.1%, with unemploy-ment staying low at 3.5% and an inflationary rate of 1.6%. Investment was the main motor of this year's economic growth, increasing by 14.2%, while private consumption grew by 4.5%. Overall, imports grew by 2.2% as opposed to ex- ports, which grew by 1.5%. This was reflected in a sub- stantial 5.7% growth in wages and salaries, and 9.5% in com- pa-ny profits. All this has seen the gross val- ue added of Malta's economy grow by 7.5%. Malta is now seeing a total of 230,000 people in employment, with the private sector as the primary job creator, doubling in size alone over the past year. Unemployment was 3.3% in August, but youth unemploy- ment reached 8.4% in the same period. The substantial increase of people in jobs, especially wom- en and those aged 55-64, saw the total gainfully employed rate reach 74.7% in 2018, sur- passing the EU average for the first time. Malta also registered the third largest increase in job vacancies, 0.4%, in the second quarter of 2019. Malta's balance of payments registered a surplus of 8% of GDP in the first half of the year. MACROECONOMIC SCENARIO Surplus at 1.4%, with debt down to 40.4% of GDP