The World Economic Forum issued its Global Competitiveness Report 2011-2012, underlining once more Malta’s strength in the area of financial services. Very good rankings were achieved for all financial market development indicators, which together form one out of twelve pillars measuring economic competitiveness.

In financial market development, Malta overall ranks 15th and falls within the same range as well-known known financial services locations, such as Singapore, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Indicators were, amongst others, soundness of Maltese banks, the ease of access to loans (both 12th position) and the strength of auditing and reporting standards (10th position).

With good results in other pillars, e.g. quality of the educational system, business impact of rules on foreign investment and country credit rating, Malta is placed 51st out of 142 countries. The report forecasts a stable competitiveness for 41 countries, including Malta.

The report may be found on the WEF website: http://reports.weforum.org/global-competitiveness-2011-2012/