VALLETTA, April 23 (Xinhua) -- Malta's government made the second highest surplus among the EU members in 2018, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Tuesday.

According to figures released both by the National Statistics Office (NSO) and Eurostat, Malta registered a surplus of 250.8 million euros (281.2 million U.S. dollars) in 2018, equivalent to 2.0 percent of GDP.

NSO showed that the major contributor of the surplus is the Extra Budgetary Units (EBU), which reached 176.8 million euros, a decrease of 21.1 million euros over 2017.

EBU registering the highest surplus was the National Development and Social Fund (NDSF) with 133.7 million euros, which is financed by 70 percent of the income from the sale of Maltese citizenship, known as the Individual Investor Program (IIP).

Speaking at a press conference, Muscat said that even if excluded the funds received from IIP, the government still has a strong record surplus of 0.5 percent of GDP.

Malta's Financial Minister Sicicluna said that the IIP had contributed 190 million euros to the surplus.

This is the third consecutive year that Malta has registered a surplus in public finances.