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 2nd and 3rd 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 1st October, 2018.

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