Malta Registers Lowest Trade With Iran Among EU States

Iran had the lowest transactions with Malta from among the 28 member states of the European Union last year.

Iran exported more than €171,000 worth of commodities to the European country in 2017, indicating an over 46% fall year-on-year, based on the latest Eurostat figures shared with Financial Tribune.

The exports mainly included edible fruits and nuts, peel of citrus fruits or melons, coffee, tea, coffeemate and spices, nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances and parts, apparel and clothing accessories knitted or crocheted, salt, sulfur, earths and stone, plastering materials, lime and cement, Financial Tribune reported.

Iran’s imports from Malta, on the other hand, amounted to more than €618,620, showing a 21.6% decrease year-on-year. The imports mainly included pharmaceutical products, nuclear reactors, boilers, machinery and mechanical appliances and parts, optical, photographic, cinematographic, measuring, checking, precision, medical or surgical instruments and apparatus and their parts and accessories, electric machinery and equipment and parts, sound recorders and reproducers, television image and sound recorders and reproducers, lac, gums, resins and other vegetable saps and extracts.

International credit agency DBRS recently upgraded Malta from ‘A’ to ‘A+, which is the highest ever rating given to the country. Meanwhile, Moody’s has revised its rating from ‘A3 stable’ to ‘A3 positive’.