malta Archives - EMCS

Issue January 2019

sadmin — Sat, 05 Jan 2019 15:41:00 +0000

Inbound tourist trips for the first eleven months of 2018 reached 2.477 million, an increase of 14.5% over the same period in 2017. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 12.6%, reaching nearly 17.7 million nights%. Total tourism expenditure was estimated at €2.0 billion, 8.2% higher than that recorded for 2017. Total expenditure per capita stood at €817, a decrease of 5.4% when compared to 2017 and a decrease of 7.2% when compared to 2016. Interesting to note that when one looks at the expenditure categories, the greatest decrease in expenditure per capita, with a 14.1% decrease between 2017 to 2018, is in the ‘other expenditure’ category, which includes the amount spent by inbound tourists on shopping, souvenirs, tickets for concerts or sports events, museums, day excursions and other amounts spent on durable or valuable goods like art and jewellery. On the other hand, the expenditure per capita for ‘Accommodation’ registered a smaller decrease of 6.7% in 2018 compared to 2017.

Unemployment: Downward trend continues

In November, the number of persons registering for work stood at 1,808 decreasing by 19.5% when compared to the corresponding month in 2017. Registered unemployed dropped among all age groups, except for those aged less than 20 years where the registered unemployed remained unchanged. Registrants for work decreased when compared to November 2017, irrespective of how long they had been registering for employment. The largest decrease in registrants was recorded among persons who had been registering for more than one year. The number of persons with a disability who were registering for work decreased by 59 persons when compared to the previous year, reaching 229. The largest share of men and women on the unemployment register sought occupations as clerical support workers.

International Trade: A widening trade deficit

During the first eleven months of 2018, the trade deficit increased by €452.5 million when compared to the corresponding period of 2017, reaching €2,787.4 million. Imports increased by €4.7 million while exports decreased by €447.7 million, with main decreases registered food (€84.0 million). Malta’s imports from the European Union reached €3,750.4 million, or 66.8% of total imports. There was an increase of €694.7 million in imports from euro area countries when compared to the same period of 2017. Main increases and decreases in imports were registered from Italy (€180.4 million) and Canada (€189.8 million) respectively. The main increase in exports was directed to Netherlands (€45.1 million), whereas Italy (€50.2 million) registered the highest decrease.

In December 2018, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) was 1.2%, down from 1.4% in November 2018. The largest upward impact on annual inflation was measured in the Food and Non-alcoholic Beverages Index, while the largest downward impact was recorded in the Education Index.

Malta’s Latest Economic & Financial News

In November 2018, the seasonally adjusted index of industrial production increased by 2.5%. Increases were registered in all the main industrial groupings, namely the production of capital goods (3 %), consumer goods (1.8%), intermediate goods (0.8 %) and energy (0.7%).

In 2018, movements between Malta and Gozo continued to increase. Overall, the number of trips went up by 1,090 or 4.8%, over 2017. Vehicle movements between the islands increased by 115,880 or 7.5%, over the previous year, while the number of passengers went up by 374,478 or 7.0%. As in previous years, August recorded the highest number of trips, 2,292 or 9.7% of the total. August also registered the largest share of vehicles and passengers crossing between the two islands, 172,120 and 620,042, respectively. Passenger traffic originating from Ċirkewwa was busiest on Fridays and Saturdays, whereas the highest volumes from Mġarr were recorded on Saturdays and Sundays.

Inflation: Downward trend started in October 2018 continues

“If a deal is impossible, and no one wants no deal, then who will finally have the courage to say what the only positive solution is?” EU President Donald task on the 15th January, 2019, following the rejection of May’s EU withdrawal agreement in the House of Commons.

The post Issue January 2019 appeared first on EMCS.

Issue December 2018

sadmin — Sat, 01 Dec 2018 15:37:19 +0000

Between January and October 2018, recurrent revenue rose by €213.9 million and amounted to €3,496 million. This represented a 6.5% increase from the €3,282.1 million reported in revenue during the corresponding 10 months of 2017. The increase was primarily the result of higher Income Tax (€103.6 million), Value Added Tax (€71.6 million), Social Security (€68.1 million), Licences, Taxes and Fines (€42.8 million), Customs and Excise Duties (€10.9 million), Dividends on Investment (€1.6 million) and Rents (€0.4 million).

Total expenditure by the end of October 2018 stood at €3,520 million, reflecting an increase of €242.3 million or 7.4% from 2017. Recurrent expenditure totalled €3,018.9 million, €159.9 million higher than the corresponding amount reported by the end of October 2017. The main contributor to this increase was a €54.6 million rise reported under Programmes and Initiatives. Furthermore, rises in outlay were also registered by Personal Emoluments, Contributions to Government Entities (both €49.5 million) and Operational and Maintenance Expenses (€6.3 million). The main developments in the Programmes and Initiatives category involved added outlays due to social security benefits (€27.2 million), state contribution (€23.3 million which also features as revenue), tax relief measures (€11.2 million), Malta Freeport interest payments (€9.5 million), health concession agreements (€8.9 million), feed in tariff (€5.7 million) and solid waste management strategy (€4.9 million).

The interest component of the public debt servicing costs amounted to €175.0 million, a €6.7 million drop from the €181.7 million reported in 2017. Government’s capital expenditure registered an increase of €89.1 million from the same period last year, and was recorded at €326.1 million. This was mainly the result of higher outlay on EU structural funds 2014-2020 (€24.4 million), road construction and improvements (€23.9 million), EU cohesion funds 2014-2020 (€16.7 million), EU internal security fund - borders and visa (€8.7 million), EU European agricultural fund for rural development 2014-2020 (€6.7 million), investment incentives (€5.0 million) and national identity management systems (€3.1 million).

The difference between total revenue and expenditure resulted in a deficit of €24.1 million being reported in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by the end of October 2018, compared to a surplus of €4.3 million in the same period in 2017.

By the end of October 2018, Central Government Debt stood at €5,211.8 million, a €394.1 million decrease from the corresponding month last year. This was the result of lower Malta Government Stocks and Foreign Loans that decreased by €635.6 million and €10.4 million respectively.

Inflation decreases slightly in October 2018

In October 2018, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index (RPI) was 1.62%, down from 1.64%in September 2018. This was the first month on month decrease since March 2018.

Inbound Tourism numbers keeps on increasing, expenditure per capita on the decrease

Inbound tourist trips for the first ten months of 2018 surpassed 2.3 million, an increase of 15% over the same period in 2017. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 12.9%, reaching nearly 16.6 million nights. Total tourism expenditure was estimated at nearly €1.9 billion, 8.6% higher than that recorded for 2017. Total expenditure per capita stood at €825, a decrease of 5.5% when compared to 2017.

Malta’s Latest Economic & Financial News

During the Q3 2018, total guests in collective accommodation establishments numbered 578,350, while total nights spent amounted to almost 3.3 million. The largest share of guest nights was reported in 4-star hotels, accounting for over 1.5 million nights, or 46.1 % of the total. The average length of stay in collective accommodation establishments stood at 5.7 nights in the third quarter of 2018, down by 0.1 of a night when compared with the same quarter of 2017. The net use of bed-places stood at 84.1%, up by 2.2 percentage points when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2017.

Total guests during the first nine months of 2018 surpassed 1.5 million, an increase of 9.8% over the same period in 2017. Total nights spent went up by 7.2%, exceeding 7.9 million. The net use of bed-places advanced by 2.9 percentage points to 71.1%.

“Malta is prepared for a no-deal Brexit scenario” Malta’s European Affairs Minister Helena Dalli on the 30^th November, 2018

The post Issue December 2018 appeared first on EMCS.

Issue Late November 2018

sadmin — Thu, 29 Nov 2018 15:00:52 +0000

Total tax revenue in Malta in 2017 went up by €381.4 million over the previous year and stood at €3,608.2 million. Tax revenue can be broadly classified under three main headings: indirect taxes, direct taxes and social security contributions. All three categories of tax revenue registered an increase in 2017.

The largest increase was recorded in direct taxes (€189.3 million), amounting to €1,589.2 million, or 44% of total tax revenue. This increase was triggered by higher income tax receipts from individuals (€101.2 million) and corporations (€81.7 million), corresponding to an increase of 0.3% and 0.2% of GDP respectively over the previous year.

Concurrently, indirect taxes increased by €139.3 million, amounting to €1,423.8 million or 39.5 % of total tax revenue. The two main components of indirect taxes namely VAT and Taxes on Products, witnessed an increase of €98.6 million and €45.8 million respectively.

Social contributions represented 16.5% of total tax revenue in 2017, standing at €595.2 million, equivalent to a €52.8 million rise over 2016.

Over a period of 20 years, the contribution of current taxes on income and wealth towards tax revenues increased substantially from 8.2% of GDP in 1995 to 14.1% of GDP in 2017. The overall tax burden denotes the total amount of taxes and actual social contributions, expressed as a percentage of GDP. In 2017, the tax burden for Malta was 32.4% of GDP, which is 0.7% higher when compared to the total tax burden recorded in 2016 (31.7 per cent of GDP). The average tax burden for the period 1995 to 2016 is at 30% of GDP.

Increase in Inbound Tourism continues – January to September 2018

Inbound tourists for the first nine months of 2018 reached the figure of 2,036,841, an increase of 15.6% over the same period in 2017. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 13.5%, surpassing 14.8 million nights. Total tourism expenditure was estimated at nearly €1.7 billion, 9.3% higher than that recorded for 2017. Total expenditure per capita stood at €827, a decrease of 5.4% when compared to 2017

Outbound Tourism – An increase of 17.2%

Total outbound tourist trips between January and September 2018 numbered 483,044, an increase of 17.2% over 2017. Total nights spent by outbound tourists went up by 13.9%, reaching nearly 3.3 million nights. In addition, total estimated outlay by resident tourists stood at €414.8 million, 9.5% higher than that recorded for the same period in 2017.

Malta’s Latest Economic & Financial News

During the first nine months this year, the trade deficit increased by €261.8 million when compared to the corresponding period of 2017, reaching €2,272.6 million. Imports increased by €51 million while exports decreased by €210.8 million. Higher imports were mainly due to increases in chemicals (€50 million), mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€40.9 million), and semi-manufactured goods (€31.7 million). These were partly outweighed by a decrease of €86.1 million in machinery and transport equipment. With regard to exports, the main decrease was registered in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€285.1 million), partly outweighed by increases of €48.1 million in miscellaneous manufactured articles and €25.2 million in semi-manufactured goods.

In September 2018, the seasonally adjusted index of industrial production decreased by 1.5%. Decreases were registered in the production of intermediate goods (1 %) and capital goods (0.9%). On the other hand increases were registered in the production of energy (1.8%) and consumer goods (0.2%) (Table 2). When compared to September 2017, the index of industrial production adjusted for working days decreased by 4.8%. The production of intermediate goods decreased by 6.2%, while the production of capital goods and consumer goods both decreased by 5.7%. Energy production increased by 2.9%.

Brexit Advisory Service Launched

A €4,000 cash grant for advisory services to local businesses on Brexit was launched by Malta Enterprise. The grant, is aimed at helping those businesses that would be specifically affected by Brexit, who due to their dependence on the British market would need to carry out a close examination for their business model to mitigate the risks of different Brexit scenarios.

For more information on this support scheme, please contact Ms. Alison Mizzi on Tel: +356 2777 2777 or email alison.mizzi@emcs.com.mt

“This government spent two years negotiating a bad deal that will leave the country in an indefinite half-way house,” – Jeremy Corbyn on the Brexit deal put forward by Theresa May, 14^th November, 2017.

The post Issue Late November 2018 appeared first on EMCS.

Issue Early November 2018

sadmin — Fri, 02 Nov 2018 14:54:35 +0000

Malta’s Blockchain and Fintech Regulatory Framework came into effect as from 1^st November, 2018. This regulatory framework includes both regulation for the Blockchain technology and for the Fintech space, including ICOs and Service Providers like Crypto Exchanges. For further details on this regulatory framework, kindly contact: silvan.mifsud@emcs.com.mt

Public Finances – Balanced Public Finances by end Q3 2018

In the period January-September 2018, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a surplus of €3.1 million. In January-September 2018, recurrent revenue amounted to €3,128.7 million, 5.3 per cent more than the €2,972.3 million recorded in 2017. The increase was primarily the result of higher Income Tax and Value Added Tax collected which both increased by €68 million and €62 million respectively. Compared to first three quarters of 2017, total expenditure stood at €3,125.6 million up from €2,915.9 million due to added outlays on recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure which outweighed lower spending on interest payments.

By the end of September 2018, Central Government Debt stood at €5,239.3 million, a €321.6 million decrease from the corresponding month last year. This was the result of lower Malta Government Stocks and Foreign Loans that decreased by €635.6 million and €10.4 million respectively.

Inbound Tourism – An 11.9% decrease in cruise liner calls and passengers

Total cruise passenger traffic during the third quarter of 2018 amounted to 188,943, a decrease of 11.9% over the corresponding period in 2017. There were 95 cruise liner calls during the third quarter of 2018, four less than the previous year. During the first nine months of the year, total cruise passengers stood at 441,547, a drop of 8.6% over 2017. Of these, 67% came from EU Member States. There were 215 cruise liner calls during the first nine months of 2018, with an average 2,054 passengers per vessel, compared to 248 calls and an average 1,947 passengers per vessel in January-September 2017

Unemployment – Drop in Unemployment continues

In September 2018, the number of persons registering for work stood at 1,813 decreasing by 26.7% when compared to the corresponding month in 2017.

Malta’s Latest Economic & Financial News

By the end of September 2018, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 382,605, an increase of 3.6% over the same quarter in 2017. Newly-licensed vehicles put on the road in Q3 2018 amounted to 6,488. The majority of the newly-licensed vehicles, 4,632 or 71.4 % of the total, were passenger cars. Newly-licensed ‘new’ motor vehicles amounted to 2,897 or 44.7 % of the total, whereas newly licensed ‘used’ motor vehicles totalled 3,591 or 55.3%. This means that an average of 71 vehicles per day were newly-licensed during Q3 2018.

Economic growth in the Eurozone has slumped to levels last seen more than four years ago after stagnation in Italy helped slow the rate of expansion to 0.2% in the latest quarter. Figures from the EU statistics agency Eurostat showed a marked and unexpected slowdown in the third quarter of 2018, in the latest evidence of a slowdown of economic activity around the world since the start of the year.

• Below please find key highlights from Malta’s 2019 Budget:-

(i) Families who earn an annual gross salary of less than €20,000 shall be eligible to an increase in the children’s allowance at a maximum rate of €96 per child.

(ii) Non-contributory medical assistance shall increase by €5.14 per week. This is awarded to married individuals whereby both adults suffer from chronic diseases and are already receiving such assistance.

(iii) Contributory and non-contributory pensions shall be increased by €2.17 per week

(iv) Refund for wedding expenses shall increase to a maximum of €2,000.

(v) The bonus received by individuals who did not pay enough social security contributions to be entitled to a minimum pension shall increase to €200 per year for individuals who paid such contributions for more than 1 year but less than 5 years. The bonus for individuals who paid such contributions for more than 5 years shall increase to €300 per year.

(vi) An increase in pension for individuals who are eligible to retire but decide not to do so is now eligible to people working within the public sector as well.

(vii) Assistance for persons suffering from severe disabilities shall increase to €150 per week. The allowance for children with disabilities shall increase to €25 per week.

(viii) Self-employed individuals who terminate operations and start registering for employment shall be entitled to unemployment contributions based on social security previously paid.

(ix) A reduced rate of tax upon sale of the property shall be introduced to incentivise property owners to rent out properties at more affordable rates for a period of 7 years.

(x) An Equity Sharing scheme is being proposed for persons over 40 years of age who may be finding difficulty in financing the purchase of their homes. It will be possible for banks to issue loans for up to 50% of the property price with a repayment plan over a number of years during which the Government will be paying the element of interest.

(xi) The Home Equity Release working group has concluded its mandate and this will allow pensioners to improve their standard of living. Further details are expected in the coming weeks.

(xii) Free Tal-Linja Card incentive to persons aged between 16 and 20 is to be extended for the current year, and introduced to full time students aged over 20 years. Persons aged 14 and over will also be benefitting from such scheme. Discussions to begin with CRPD Agenzija Sapport, to grant free card to disabled persons.

(xiii) An additional day of leave to be awarded to employees to make up for feast days that fall in a weekend to be sustained.

(xiv) Employees that earned a minimum wage during 2017 shall receive a further €3 per week in the coming year.

(xv) All secondary students along with two adults will be entitled to visit the Heritage Malta museums free of charge.

(xvi) All MATSEC and SEC fees will be eliminated.

(xvii) Employees shall again be awarded a tax refund which is calculated based on the annual salary of the individual.

(xviii) Employees registered as single persons for tax purposes who receive income from part-time work in excess of €9,100 bracket but not the minimum wage will no longer be taxed.

(xix) The introduction of tax incentives towards the investment in the third pillar pension and occupational pension scheme. The first €2,000 shall be exempt from tax. Furthermore the tax reduction rate on such private pensions has increased to 25%.

(xx) Allowances for parents whose children attend independent schools have increased.

(xxi) A VAT refund of up to €70 shall be given to individuals who purchase and install reverse osmosis or similar processes. VAT on eBooks and musical instruments shall be reduced to 5%

(xxii) Fintech Accelerator has been launched by the Malta Stock Exchange to provide financial assistance to those companies within the sector.

(xxiii) The Malta Stock Exchange shall also collaborate with the blockchain and cryptocurrency industry.

(xxiv) Malta shall also work to promote and attract companies within the e-Sports sector.

(xxv) Malta Development Bank shall offer schemes and facilities for further investment by SMEs and infrastructural projects.

“Malta’s 2019 Budget offers no tricks, just treats” Dr. Joseph Muscat Prime Minister of Malta, 31^st October 2018.

The post Issue Early November 2018 appeared first on EMCS.

Issue Late October 2018

sadmin — Tue, 30 Oct 2018 14:39:26 +0000

The key indicators that emerge from the Labour Force Survey for the period 2012 and 2017 are presented below. In some instances these are compared with the EU 28 data for 2017.

1. During 2017, the national estimate for the employment rate (ages 15-64) stood at 69.2%, 1.5 percentage points higher than the EU 28 average for the same year.

2. Significant increases in activity rates were noted between 2012 and 2017, especially among those aged 55-64 years.

3. On average, over the past six years, 15 out of every 100 employees were part-timers and about a quarter of females had this type of employment arrangement.

4. Unemployment has been declining steadily during the past years; from a rate of
6.2% in 2012, to 4% in 2017.

5. In 2017, the share of youths not in employment, education or training (referred to as NEETS) stood at 8.6%, 2.3 percentage points less than the EU 28 average.

6. The rate of early school leavers (ESL) stood at 17.7 per cent during 2017, registering a drop of four percentage points from 2012 levels. The national ESL rate is still above Malta’s Europe 2020 target of 10% and above EU 28 average of 10.6% for 2017.

7. Out of all persons aged 30-34 years having achieved tertiary level education, a constant increase was recorded over the period of six years, with the Europe 2020 target of 33% being met in 2017.

MFSA issue final version of Chapter 1 of the rulebook for VFA agents

MFSA issued the final chapter 1 of the VFA rulebook with regards VFA agents was issued on the 17^th This can be viewed here: https://www.mfsa.com.mt/pages/viewcontent.aspx?id=674

Inflation on the rise

In September 2018, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index (RPI) was 1.64%, up from 1.12% in August 2018.

Employment – Labour Supply by Place of Residence and Work

Employed persons in Malta, by place of work, exceeded the total number of employed persons actually resident in Malta. The difference represents the net balance of commuter workers. Commuter workers were predominantly Gozo residents working in Malta, accounting to 3,410 employed persons during 2017. This implied that one out of every five employed persons resident in the Gozo and Comino region worked in Malta, 51% of which were females.

Malta’s Latest Economic & Financial News

Provisional data for international trade show that a trade deficit of €334.8 million was registered in August, compared to a deficit of €158.5 million in the corresponding month of 2017. Imports show an increase of €143.4 million, while exports decreased by €32.9 million. The increase in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€85.1 million) and machinery and transport equipment (€41.6 million). On the exports side the main decrease was registered in mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials (€38.9 million).

During 2017, electricity generation from power plants and the interconnector increased by 5.8 % compared to the previous year. The data shows that as from April 2017 Malta was shifted to source the majority of the needed electricity from the local power plants rather than the interconnector. Energy harvesting from renewable sources registered an increase of 21.8 % over 2016, reaching 165,109 MWh in 2017.

"A further idea that has emerged - and it is an idea at this stage - is to create an option to extend the implementation period for a matter of months - and it would only be for a matter of months. But the point is that this is not expected to be used, because we are working to ensure that we have that future relationship in place by the end of December 2020.” Theresa May on Brexit following the EU Summit held on 18^th October, 2018.

The post Issue Late October 2018 appeared first on EMCS.

Issue Early October 2018

sadmin — Tue, 02 Oct 2018 14:18:43 +0000

In the period January-August 2018, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €3.1 million. Compared to the same period last year, recurrent revenue rose by €160.3 million whereas total expenditure went up by €194.6 million. This resulted in a negative change in the Government’s Consolidated Fund by €34.2 million.

The Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA) publishes its 2nd and 3rd consultation document

The MDIA issued its 2^nd and 3^rd Guidelines with respect to Innovative Technology Arrangements and Technical Administrators. These can be viewed: https://mdia.gov.mt/acts/

Unemployment – Drop in unemployment continues

In August 2018 the number of persons registering for work stood at 1,787 decreasing

Employment – 6% increase in employment

Labour Force Survey estimates indicate an increase of 6% in employment when compared to the corresponding quarter of 2017. Total employment stood at 231,152 accounting to more than half the population aged 15 and over. On average, out of every 100 persons aged between 15 to 64 years, 71 were employed. The male employment rate for this age bracket was 80.3 % while that for females stood at 60.2%. During the recent General Workers Union conference, Malta’s Prime Minister conceded there were challenges with the large influx of workers, but said the country would not push the pause button on its economic growth, whilst on the other hand the Leader of Opposition said that if the country had to bring in foreign workers, they should at least be from the European Union.

Inbound Tourism – 15.7% increase in inbound tourists; 4.8% decrease in tourist expenditure per capita.

Total inbound visitors for August 2018 were estimated at 317,490, an increase of 10.2% when compared to the corresponding month in 2017. Inbound tourist trips for the period January – August 2018 reached 1,765,402, an increase of 15.7% over the same period in 2017. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 14.1%, reaching nearly 12.8 million nights. Total tourism expenditure was estimated at €1.4 billion, 10.2% higher than that recorded for 2017. Total expenditure per capita stood at €817, a decrease of 4.8% when compared to 2017.

Malta’s Latest Economic & Financial News

In its report “Macro Update – Europe”, DBRS, the international ratings agency, mentions that economic growth in the Euro area (EA) had a weak start to the year, but it remains steady at 2.3% in the first half of 2018, with the growth being below the 2.8% recorded in the second half of 2017, but only slightly lower than the 2.5% growth rate for the whole of 2017. Growth was driven by household consumption and gross fixed investment. By country, the top performers include Malta, Latvia, and Slovenia, while the underperformers include Italy, Belgium and France.

“History shows that, while it is tempting to sail alone, countries must resist the siren call of self-sufficiency – because as the Greek legends tell us, that leads to shipwreck.” IMF’s Christine Lagarde on the 1^st October, 2018.

The post Issue Early October 2018 appeared first on EMCS.

Issue September 2018

sadmin — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 13:39:13 +0000

Provisional estimates indicate that Malta’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the second quarter of 2018 amounted to €3,001.1 million, an increase of €238.0 million or 8.6% when compared to the corresponding period last year. In real terms, GDP went up by 5.9%.

Fintech & Virtual Financial Asset (VFA) Regulation soon to become operative

July and August 2018 were busy months for the Malta Financial Services Authority having carried out a consultation exercise with regards to the regulations and rulebook of the VFA Act. It is that the VFA Act will now become operative from 1^st October 2018.

Public Finances – An increase in Income Tax and VAT collected

During the period January-July 2018, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €117.2 million. In the period January-July 2018, total recurrent revenue was recorded at €2,258.1 million, up from €2,160.6 million recorded last year. The comparative increase of 4.5 per cent was primarily the result of higher Income Tax and Value Added Tax, which increased by €96.1 million and €34.7 million respectively. Compared to January-July 2017, total expenditure stood at €2,375.3 million up from €2,265.6 million due to added outlays on recurrent expenditure and capital expenditure which outweighed lower spending on interest payments.

Unemployment – 1% Unemployment rate

In July 2018, the number of persons registering for work stood at 1,828, decreasing by 26.9 % when compared to the corresponding month in 2017. As per Eurostat published data the unemployment rate in Malta in July 2018 in Malta stood at 4%.

In July 2018, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index (RPI) was 1.0%, up from 0.97 per cent in June 2018. The twelve-month moving average rate was 1.04%. The largest upward impact on annual inflation was measured in the Food Index, while the largest downward impact was recorded in the Clothing and Footwear Index.

Inbound Tourism – An increase of 16.9% in tourist arrivals

Inbound tourist trips for the first seven months of 2018 reached 1,451,527, an increase of 16.9% over the same period in 2017. Total nights spent by inbound tourists went up by 16.6 per cent, surpassing 10.0 million nights (Table 8). Total tourism expenditure was estimated at €1.1 billion, 11.0 per cent higher than that recorded for 2017 (Table 9). Total expenditure per capita stood at €772, a decrease of 5.1%when compared to 2017

Inflation – Annual rate of Inflation at 1%

Malta’s Latest Economic & Financial News

Provisional data for international trade shows that a trade deficit of €312.1 million was registered in June 2018, compared to a deficit of €128.8 million in the corresponding month of 2017. Imports increased by €123.9 million, while exports show a decrease of €59.4 million.

By the end of June 2018, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 379,338, an increase of 3.8% over the same quarter in 2017. In Q2 2018, Newly-licensed ‘brand new’ motor vehicles amounted to 3,197 or 45.2% of the total, whereas newly licensed ‘used/2^nd hand’ motor vehicles totalled 3,872 or 54.8%. An average of 78 vehicles per day were newly licensed during Q2 2018.

Total outbound tourist trips between January and June 2018 numbered 283,891, an increase of 18% over 2017 .Total nights spent by outbound tourists went up by 9.9%, reaching nearly 1.8 million nights. In addition, total estimated outlay by resident tourists stood at €221.5 million, 10.1% higher than that recorded for the same period in 2017

The post Issue September 2018 appeared first on EMCS.

Issue June 2018

sadmin — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 13:36:02 +0000

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for the first quarter of 2018 amounted to €2,795.1 million, an increase of €171.0 million or 6.5 per cent when compared to the corresponding quarter last year. In real terms, GDP went up by 4.4 per cent.

Inbound Tourism

Total inbound visitors for April 2018 were estimated at 234,488, an increase of 15.7 per cent when compared to the corresponding month in 2017. For the period January – April 2018, total inbound tourism expenditure surpassed €431.3 million, 10.3 per cent higher than that recorded for 2017, whilst for the same period total expenditure per capita stood at €666, a decrease of 6.6 per cent when compared to 2017

On the 18^th May 2018, MHRA (Malta’s Hotel and Restaurant Association), issued its usual survey results and expressed concerns that while that the sector was experiencing strong growth, it was important that the sustainability of touristic sector in Malta was tackled, with a strategy that changes from counting tourist arrival numbers to increasing the quality of the tourist and maximising on the spend per tourist day. Thus, MHRA proposed that government is to consider carrying out a Carrying Capacity Assessment with the aim to establish sustainable levels of growth in tourism, as such exercise was last held in 2001.

Malta’s Latest Economic News

In April 2018, the seasonally adjusted index of industrial production decreased by 1.4 per cent which was mainly due to a decrease in the production of consumer goods (5.9 per cent) and intermediate goods (1.0 per cent). Increases were registered in the production of energy (1.1 per cent) and capital goods (0.3 per cent).

Preliminary figures show that Malta registered a trade surplus of €157.3 million in April 2018, compared to a trade deficit of €222.1 million in the corresponding month of 2017. During the first four months of 2018, the trade deficit narrowed by €371.2 million when compared to the corresponding period of 2017, reaching €458.8 million. Imports show a decrease of €111.4 million, while exports increased by €259.8 million.

The post Issue June 2018 appeared first on EMCS.

Issue Late May 2018

sadmin — Tue, 29 May 2018 13:32:12 +0000

In January-April 2018, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €95.9 million. In January – April 2017, a surplus of €21 million was registered. The main contributor to this deficit was an increase in expenses of €72.6 million, when compared to same period in 2017, under Programmes and Initiatives. The main developments in the Programmes and Initiatives category involved added outlays due to social security benefits (€18.9 million), medicines and surgical materials (€12.2 million), state contribution of projects (€10.1 million), feed in tariff (€10.0 million), treasury pensions (€7.0 million), provision of spare capacity (€3.5 million), health concession agreements (€2.8 million), church schools (€2.0 million), residential private care (€1.9 million), Jobsplus programmes (€1.5 million) and child care for all (€1.3 million).

Blockchain and Initial Virtual Financial Asset Offering Regulation up for 2nd Reading

On the 22^nd May, the bills that will regulate Blockchain platforms and Initial Virtual Financing Asset (VFA) offering and VFA service providers have been placed for 2^nd

Employment & Unemployment

In April 2018, the number of persons registering for work stood at 1,847 decreasing by 28.3% when compared to the corresponding month in 2017.

Inflation

In April 2018, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) was registered at a rate of 1.4 per cent, up from 1.3 per cent in March 2018. The largest upward impact on annual inflation was recorded in the Restaurants and Hotels Index mainly reflecting higher prices of restaurant services.

Malta’s Latest Economic News

Provisional data for international trade show that the trade deficit in March 2018 stood at €200.8 million, up by €38.2 million when compared to the corresponding month of 2017. Both imports and exports decreased by €22.1 million and €60.3 million respectively.

By the end of March 2018, the stock of licensed motor vehicles stood at 375,041. During Q1 2018 the stock of licensed vehicles increased at a net average rate of 33 vehicles per day.

Total outbound tourists for the first quarter in 2018 were estimated at 137,730, an increase of 19.5 per cent over the corresponding quarter of 2017. During the first quarter of 2018, outbound tourist trips towards non-EU countries increased by 45.0 per cent over the same quarter in 2017. Italy and the United Kingdom remained the most popular destinations, with a joint share of 55.9 per cent of total outbound tourist trips. Interesting to note the recovery of the legacy airline outbound traffic which stood at 44% of outbound tourists in Q1 2017 and increased to 48.3% in Q1 2018.

In the first quarter of 2018, seasonally adjusted industrial turnover increased by 0.1 per cent over the fourth quarter last year. Increases in turnover were registered in the intermediate goods (3.1 per cent) and the consumer goods (2.3 per cent) sectors. These increases were mitigated by declines in the capital goods (7.2 per cent) and energy (1.4 per cent) sectors. When compared to the first quarter of 2017, working day adjusted industrial turnover decreased by 0.4 per cent. This was mainly due to decreases across all the main industrial groupings, with the exception of the energy sector.

The post Issue Late May 2018 appeared first on EMCS.

Issue Early May 2018

sadmin — Thu, 03 May 2018 13:25:30 +0000

Malta’s Cabinet of Ministers approved three bills, one of which is the Virtual Financial Assets (VFA) Bill that provides the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs). The other two bills are the Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA) Bill and the Technology Arrangements and Services (TAS) Bill. All three were presented to the Parliament of Malta for its first reading on Tuesday 24th April.

The MDIA Bill will establish the Malta Digital Innovation Authority (MDIA. The TAS Bill will set out the regime for the registration of Technology Service Providers and certification of Technology arrangements. The VFA Bill will set out the framework for ICOs and the regulatory regime on the provision of certain services in relation to Virtual Financial Assets. The intermediaries subject to the VFA bill will include brokers, exchanges, wallet providers, asset managers, investment advisors and market makers dealing in Virtual Currencies.

Employment & Unemployment

In March 2018 the number of persons registering for work stood at 1,954 decreasing by 26.2 per cent when compared to the corresponding month in 2017.

Inflation

In March 2018, the annual rate of inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index (RPI) was registered at 0.82% down from 0.98% in February 2018. The largest upward impact on annual inflation was recorded in the Food Index (0.35 percentage points). The largest downward impact was recorded in the Clothing and Footwear Index (0.26 percentage points). Euro area annual inflation rate was 1.3% in March 2018, up from 1.1% in February 2018.

Malta Government Finance

In January-March 2018, Government’s Consolidated Fund registered a deficit of €60.8 million, compared to a €12.8 million deficit in the same period last year. Compared to the same period last year, recurrent revenue registered an increase of €41.1 million whereas total expenditure went up by €89.1 million.

Inbound Tourism

Total inbound visitors for March were estimated at 167,197, an increase of 18.4 per cent when compared to the corresponding month in 2017. Total nights spent went up by 26.9 per cent when compared to March 2017, reaching nearly 1.1 million nights. Total tourist expenditure in March 2018 was estimated at €116 million, an increase of 20.2 per cent over the corresponding month in 2017.

Malta’s Latest Economic News

In 2017, registered business units in Malta amounted to 103,458, an increase of 6.9 per cent, or 6,642, over 2016. In terms of employment, 97.3 per cent of registered units were micro entities as they employed less than 10 persons.

When compared to March 2017, the industrial producer price index in March 2018 went up by 6.45 per cent. This was due to a rise of 18.85 per cent in the intermediate goods sector. Decreases were registered in the consumer goods (0.84 per cent) and capital goods (0.16 per cent) sectors.

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