Malta has been listed among the most tax and visa-friendly places to buy a second home in Europe, according to London business newspaper City A.M.

“Malta has no wealth, inheritance, capital gains or annual property taxes, although foreigners are taxed on income from work sourced in Malta. Foreign nationals can purchase a second home if the value exceeds €107,670 for apartments and €179,400 for houses and stamp duty is also set at five per cent,” the report said.

Malta’s competitiveness is on the up, according to the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Index 2016-2017.

Malta now ranks 37th out of 137 countries included in this publication, ahead of Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, and Croatia. This represents an improvement on the 40th place attained in the previous release.

This publication assesses each country on 12 main pillars. Malta excelled particularly well in the areas of higher education and training (30th), labour market efficiency (29th), business sophistication (31st), and innovation (38th).

Standard & Poor's has maintained Malta's sovereign credit rating at A-, but has raised the outlook to positive from stable.

S&P says that the outlook on Malta was revised to positive on strong growth prospects. They said that the outlook revision reflects their expectation that Malta's economy will continue its strong cyclical expansion‍​.

The independent credit rating institution defines one of the main contributors to this upgrade as the ‘fast declining gross general government debt’ which is expected to ‘decrease to 50% of GDP in 2019...supported by strong nominal GDP growth and recurrent primary surpluses.’ Fitch added that it also expects Government-guaranteed liabilities to decline in the coming years.

Malta’s launch of its Institutional Securitisations Market (ISM) later this year will put the country on a competitive footing in the sector with Luxembourg and Dublin, according to Managing Partners Group (MPG), the international asset management group. Jeremy Leach, chief executive officer at MPG, believes the move signifies a huge effort by the Malta Stock Exchange in advancing its services and improving the quality of financial services conducted in the country.

A film produced by a Maltese national studying in the US has been shortlisted for an Emmy award, a prize cherished by directors across the globe. The film – Magic Mouse – was produced by 25-year-old Luke Zammit who moved to the US to pursue a career in film. He produced the film for his thesis project as part of a Master of Fine Arts in film production at the Full Sail University in Florida. Speaking to this newspaper, days after being shortlisted for the student Emmy, Mr Zammit said that while he had put his heart and soul into the project, the nomination still came as a surprise.

Source: Movinga.de

Malta will be a financial centre of choice for British companies wanting a base in the EU after Brexit, a financial services analyst has predicted. Jeremy leach, CEo of Managing Partners Group, an international asset manager, said Malta will benefit more than any other financial centre in Europe as British companies seek to retain an EU presence. “Malta offers several benefits, including an English-speaking and well-educated workforce,” Mr leach said.