Author Jeremy Warner writes that Malta’s economic situation leaves many wondering whether things are not just a bit too good to be true.
He adds that recent reports by the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission found Malta to be in many respects a model economy, with growing levels of labour participation, rising living standards and consumption, and a degree of improvement in the public finances that most other eurozone members would die for.
But Warner writes that despite these successes, the country finds itself the butt of more or less constant suspicion and criticism. Success, it is alleged by some, is built on dirty money, sale of citizenship to dodgy foreigners, and questionable financial innovation and opportunism.
Among things, Warner mentions a leaked draft report, the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism recently accused Malta of multiple failings in its regulatory regime and gave the island just a year to get its house in order or face blacklisting procedures as well as the murder of the investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Warner also speaks to Malta’s Minster of Finance Edward Scicluna to clarify certain questions on Malta’s reputation and praises his record to date in transforming the economy of this little island along business friendly lines that “has moreover been a remarkable one, with some beginning to call Malta a potential Singapore of the Mediterranean”.
Scicluna, who Warner also points out recently has been caught up in a corruption probe, is quoted as saying “that we have more regulators these days than practitioners, but still we get a lot of criticism. I do not know of any jurisdiction that can put its hand on its heart and say we don’t have any money laundering here.”
The article also touches on the issue of the sale of Maltese citizenship and for which Scicluna answers when questioned about it that “it is only 300 people a year, and even without those monies, we would still generate a budget surplus. Lots of countries do this – Cyprus, Portugal, the US and Canada”.
Scicluna also stresses that that on the EU, and indeed the euro, have been major positives for Malta. Brexit has been a further bonus, with many London based financial institutions choosing Malta as their passport of choice into the EU.
