Scope Ratings have published their 2021 external vulnerability and resilience rankings. This exercise studies world economies’ risk of facing balance of payments crisis as well as their degree of resilience when exposed to an external crisis.

This is meant to measure the probability that a country’s government could fail to pay its foreign debt. In 2020 there were five countries that ended up in this situation, and another 2 countries have already defaulted on their debt this year.

When making their assessment, Scope Ratings look at indicators such as the current account position of the country, foreign direct investment flows, dependence on foreign debt and the resilience of the country’s exchange rate.

According to these internationally recognised metrics, Scope’s experts place Malta amongst the three most resilient economies in the world. This is the first time that Malta has made it amongst the top three, taking the place formerly occupied by China. The other two countries in the top three are Switzerland and Japan.

This is the first time that Malta has made it amongst the top three, taking the place formerly occupied by China.

Amongst the factors that Scope Ratings emphasises in relation to the Maltese economy, one finds that Malta has large-scale net foreign direct investment inflows. This contrasts with the picture peddled by the Opposition that Malta is no longer attractive for foreign investors.

The international experts of Scope Ratings also point out how Malta as a nation has a net external creditor position equal to over 60% of GDP, while the Maltese Government has moderate levels of debt. Contrast this with the position of the Opposition that Maltese public finances are worrying and are increasingly unsustainable.

This latest certificate of the strength of Malta’s economy confirms the excellent management of the substantial external challenges that emerged this year.

These challenges were strong enough to impact one of the world’s largest economies, China, while Malta’s position moved from strength to even greater strength.