Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg and Malta's Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York Vanessa Frazier on Tuesday inaugurated Malta's new Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York.

Borg said work on this new Permanent Mission has been going on for years. He said having a modern base for Malta was important as the country took its place on the United Nations Security Council.

The University of Malta placed fifth in a new ranking for universities and institutions on their publishing activity within the technical field of games.

Published by American University Assistant Professor Mark J. Nelson, the ranking evaluates the top 100 institutions based on their publishing activity over the past decade dedicated to technical aspects of games and interactive media.

This includes research in artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction and graphics, the University of Malta (UM) wrote in a press statement on Wednesday.

The National Strategy for Financial Services, prepared by the Malta Financial Services Advisory Council (MFSAC), has been launched. The strategy was initiated by the government with the active contribution from both the industry and the regulators. It is the result of the work of over 100 professionals who worked together to elaborate concrete actions to address key opportunities and mitigate the weaknesses of the sector. This strategy is based on a detailed analysis of the financial services industry conducted by task forces composed of representatives from all the stakeholders involved.

Malta, one of the UN’s smallest member states, takes over the presidency of the UN Security Council on 1 February. The presidency of the Council is held by each of the members in turn for one month. It involves setting the agenda, presiding over its meetings and overseeing any crisis.

Malta took a seat as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council on 1 January 2023.

GDP up 6.9% thanks to accommodation, food services and transportation

Gross Domestic Product last year reached €16,870.3 million, an increase of €1,868.4 million, or 12.5 per cent, when compared to 2021, the National Statistics Office said. The growth rate was 13.9% in the previous year.

In volume terms, GDP rose by 6.9 per cent last year.

It said that during 2022, Gross Value Added (GVA) rose by 13.7 per cent in nominal terms and 8.1 per cent in volume terms, when compared to 2021.

The Maltese economy is expected to grow strongly by 5.7% in 2022, driven by domestic demand and export of services, including tourism. Growth is forecast to moderate to 2.8% in 2023, as the supporting growth momentum of services exports fades and the impact of higher prices reduces household purchasing power, and reach 3.7% in 2024. Malta has kept energy prices unchanged due to the implementation of sizeable government measures. The government remains committed to keeping energy prices stable also for 2023 and 2024.

Fri 11 Nov, 2022 - 5:01 PM ET

Fitch Ratings - Frankfurt am Main - 11 Nov 2022: Fitch Ratings has affirmed Malta's Long-Term Foreign-Currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'A+' with a Stable Outlook.

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