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A mountain to climb

Hats off to former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for the unprecedented growth in GDP under his administrations, but I never agreed with his notion of “trickle down economics”, nor with his more recent statements about this policy having created “small rich people”. Last July, more than 320 economists from around the world signed a letter to United Nations Secretary General António Guterres and World Bank President Ajay Banga.  In it they expressed concern about the explosive rise in inequality, which has recently grown more...
Frans Camilleri | 02/12/2023
Business & EconomicsVoices

Beyond the austerity straitjacket

Unfortunately, a core group of bureaucrats at the European Commission remain wedded to the myth of fiscal austerity. One hopes that, in the discussions on the EU’s new fiscal rules, this approach will lose out to a more flexible and progressive one. After having gone through the increase in expenditure implied by the draft budgetary plans submitted by the European Union’s Member States in early October, the European Commission issued letters to a number of countries to inform them that they were not conforming to...
Fiscal Fox | 28/11/2023
Business & EconomicsStories

The fastest growing EU economy, now and till 2025

Comparing the European Commission’s reports about the Maltese economy with some of the local media’s vacuous rhetoric, one can barely realise that one is reading about the same economy. While here in Malta, certain columnists worry about Malta’s economic model, back in Brussels the most commonly used phrase about Malta’s economy is “robust growth”. While in its Autumn 2023 economic projections the European Commission has just halved its forecast for...
The Journal | 26/11/2023
Business & EconomicsStories

Defying the odds

The ability of a small open economy to navigate a deteriorating global landscape highlights the effectiveness of government policies and the adaptability of the private sector. The American multinational investment credit rating agency and provider of financial research and analysis, Moody’s, has given a substantial number of European countries – such as France, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Czechia, and Slovakiam – a negative outlook....
The Journal | 25/11/2023
Business & EconomicsVoices

What is Government’s economic vision, after all?

The continued Nationalist gripe that no new economic sectors are being created demonstrates how cut off they remain from the fast-evolving business community of Malta. It also suggests that they remain wedded to an outdated Gaullist/Soviet notion of industrial policy. The Nationalist Party and its media allies have consistently pushed the narrative that the Labour government is bereft of a coherent economic strategy. In truth, this has been the Nationalists’ most consistent media strategy, as it has been in place even before Labour...
Fiscal Fox | 23/11/2023
Business & EconomicsStories

Economic model: separating the wheat from the chaff

Malta’s economic history is characterised by complete regular overhauls made in light of changing circumstances. Past successes provide an excellent springboard for the next phase of the country’s economic development. In recent months, there has been a lot of debate about Malta’s economic model. Unfortunately, to a large degree, the discussion was quite misguided and superficial. For instance, several commentators argued that Malta’s economic growth was the result of a rise in...
The Journal | 22/11/2023

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