Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday stayed upbeat about economic forecasts for 2008 after the latest Eurostat GDP figures registered Malta with the slowest growth of the EU-27 in the third quarter of 2007.
The economy grew by 0.1% in the third quarter of last year over the same quarter of 2006, although Gonzi said the economy had grown by 4.6% over a 12-month period.
“Through the direct economic reforms we have implemented to help us adapt to global challenges, we have gone through dramatic changes and I can say Malta compares well on a cyclical period in terms of economic growth,” Gonzi said yesterday.
He has already announced
The Prime Minister was addressing a press conference after a bilateral meeting with European Commission President Josè Manuel Barroso, who is in Malta yesterday for the official Euro celebrations.
Other dignitaries present in Malta yesterday were the European Central Bank governor Jean-Claude Trichet, Economic and Finance Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, Luxembourg’s prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker, and the Slovenian prime minister and currently president of the Council of Ministers, Janez Janzsa.
Speaking at the Auberge de Castille, Barroso commented on Malta’s progress in finally arriving “at the heart of the EU” after joining in 2004, and within three years having become a member of the Schengen area and the eurozone.
Praising the benefits of the European single currency, Barroso said the euro made people’s life easier: “It is more than just a strong and credible currency, it is a powerful symbol of our European project… it makes citizens’ life easier for travelling, comparing prices, and leads to more job creation.”
In his speech making the Malta’s entry into the eurozone, delivered yesterday at the Mediterranean Conference Centre to a host of EU ministers and other officials, Lawrence Gonzi said that during the last three years, Malta had gone through a major economic recovery. “In spite of thousands of jobs lost to globalisation, a significant reduction in unemployment was registered. We have met the rigorous Eurozone criteria while investing like never before in education and the environment.
“We are celebrating today a nation that is not afraid to be ambitious in what it sets to achieve. We are celebrating today a people that believes in its ability to succeed.”
He described the euro as a tool for stability which boosted investor confidence, eliminates the costs of exchanging money, facilitates trade integration, increases price transparency, and strengthened European identity.
Gonzi said Malta’s entry into the eurozone however does not mark the end of the island’s economic challenges. “Like other countries, we are also continuously being assailed by intense international competitive pressures and the economic and financial turmoil resulting from increasing commodity prices and the turbulence in the financial markets.”
Gonzi said that despite the adverse conditions, the government will be moving along with its “vision of excellence” in the sectors which he said, “we feel we have a comparative advantage.”