Corporate
Malta Insights
MALTA: SERVICES DRIVE ECONOMY FORWARD IN FIRST QUARTER As pandemic-related restrictions eased during the first half of 2021, Malta’s economic recovery remained strong, with improved business and consumer sentiment, strong growth in investment and exports, together with improved tourismrelated activities. Indeed, tourism recovery, which is often described as a fundamental element of economic activity in Malta, has been significantly visible in recent months. Reaching 77.8%, the seat load factor (SLF) for the month of April was just 5.6% below pre-pandemic levels, indicating an encouraging demand for travel, according to the Malta International Airport. The recent S&P Global Ratings report indicated that economic growth in our country has been very strong, noting how investment has increased by a remarkable 19%.
The services sector, particularly financial services, appear to have so far managed to have cushioned the impact of Malta’s placement in the enhanced monitoring procedures, known as grey-listing. Although no final decision had been taken at time of publication, government appeared confident that all actions required by the FATF were implemented and was largely optimistic on a possible exit from this predicament by early Summer. This strong position was late in Spring confirmed by Fitch Ratings which has affirmed Malta’s LongTerm Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘A+’ with a Stable Outlook. The agency said that Malta’s rating is supported by high per-capita income levels, a large net external creditor position and a pre-pandemic record of strong growth and sizeable debt reduction. These strengths are
11
