The end of September brings about an end to summer for many in Malta. People start returning back from their summer houses, schools and universities start preparing their staff and students for the next scholastic year, most businesses return to their normal rate of operations after the hot summer lull in July and August – except for those businesses which are not directly or indirectly tied to the tourist and entertainment industries.
The Central Bank of Malta has issued its Financial Stability Report for 2012 and part of 2013 in September. It gives a very positive outlook to the domestic banking sector despite the fragile situations in international financial markets.
Hot in the heals of the Financial Stability report, is the downgrading of the Maltese economy by the credit agencies. The Ministry of Finance insisted that this was to be expected, but already measures where being implemented, to put Malta back to its proper grade and plan to close 2013 with a deficit of less than 3% of GDP.
The energy sector has been the focus of the political and local economy for the past few months, more than any other sector. Energy was a major political issue last March, enabling Labour to gain power after many years in opposition. Labour did not loose time in proving its commitment in this sector and within the space of a few weeks managed to make two important memoranda of understanding with China and Libya respectively.
Happy reading.
Simon Ciantar – Senior Partner