Prior to achieiving independence in 1964, Malta’s economy depended heavily on the British Armed Forces, namely the Royal Navy, whereby the Maltese workers were either directly employed with the British Forces, or were emplyed with companies providing services to the British Military.
In the years that followed, the Maltese leaders too the neccessary steps to base the Maltese economy on tourism, industry and services. Malta understood that its most important resource was its people and by the end of the 1980s, the Maltese leaders understood that by educating their workforce to highly qualified professionals, they woudl be able to attract hiher value products and services to the island.
As a result of this as well as other measures aimed at reducing the country’s deficit and establishing a stable fiscal financial platform for the economy gave rise to new industry sectors such as Financial Services, Remote Gaming, Information and Communication technologies, as well as aviation and shipping services.
Tourism remains Malta’s major economic pillar contributing some 25% to its GDP. Financial Services have seen a 30% growth per annum since 2009. Malta continued to receive international recognition and the 2008 Global Financial Services Index ranked Malta in 4th place as the Centre most likely to increase its importance in the coming years and in 5th place as the centre where most organisations are likely to begin operation sin the next 2 to 3 years.
Furthermore, the World’s Economic Forum’s competitiveness index 2009-2010 ranked Malta 13th (out 0f 133 countries) for Financial Maret Sophistication and ranked Malta’s Banking System as the 13th soundest in the world.
Remote gaming is also becoming a major revnue earner and the sector now boasts of over 300 licensed operators. The ICT and the Fund registration sectors are also on the increase.
Source of Figures : Finance Malta
