Botswana enjoys greater economic freedom than Malta – report says

Botswana and Georgia enjoy greater economic fredom than Malta, a study carried by the Heritage Foundation and Wall Street Journal shows.

In the 2009 version of the report released today, Malta is termed as a moderately free economy, classifying 46th from 179 countires with corruption, the size of government spending and taxation seen as hindering Malta’s economic freedom.

From the report:

Challenges to overall economic freedom in Malta include burdensome taxation, a high level of government spending, and rigid labor regulations. 

The report on corruption:

Corruption is perceived as present […] Malta still lacks a comprehensive anti-corruption strategy, as well as appropriate institutions to implement and monitor anti-corruption activities in the public sector and specific areas of law.

The report also shows that Malta’s economy was freer in 2002 than today.

The report also shows that Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia are the most free economies in the world. The UK and Ireland are the only EU states classifying in the top ten with the worst performer for the 27-state bloc being Italy, in 76th place.

Obama’s recovery plan is gender balanced – aide argues

Efforts were made to stimulate growth in employment rates for both men an women, argues Christina Romer, the soon-to-be chair of a comittee of economy advisers in the White House in a YouTube interview.

These comments came after women’s groups in the US started voicing their concern that the stimulus plan would largely target the male dominated construction and manufacturing industries.

From The Huffington Post:

In conversations with several women’s issues officials, you do indeed get the sense of legitimate worry that the makeup of the stimulus package will be too focused on construction and manufacturing — traditionally male areas of work.

“There is great concern,” Martha Burk, formerly chair of National Council of Women’s Organizations, told the Huffington Post, “not only that women won’t get the jobs, but that unemployment itself is not helping women in the same numbers as men.”

 

We should follow the example set by Obama and make gender equality one of the main targets when creating policy.

Bailout becomes gaming phenomenon

Bailout, originally meant to save banks from collapse, is now a free online game.

Test your skills and see if you can handle the situation better than Henry Paulson, current Treasury Secretary in the United States.

The Huffington Post says:

The game provides an amusing, multimedia retrospective of the measures that the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve have taken in response to the economic crisis.

The game was developed by Minnesota based company Blue Earth LLC, bailoutsleuth.com reports.

Italians bet €3.9 billion in 2008

Italians bet €3.9 billion in 2008 marking an increase of more than 50% over the previous year, reports which appeared today on Italian news agency ANSA suggest.

The same report says that online football betting represents 27% of the total sum played.

Malta has a booming igaming sector with more companies choosing to set up shop here.

The growth of this sector in a market like Italy may translate itself to financial benefits for betting companies registered in Malta, should they be capable of attracting customers towards them.

Betting companies registered in Malta yield registration and taxation payments to the Maltese government, which is vociferously opposing EU regulation of igaming together with the UK.

Capitan Findus is in high seas

Producer of Findus foods in the UK is in financial trouble putting 420 jobs at risk, Sky reports today.

This news was followed by announcements of job cuts in the Financial Times (80 jobs). Reports also show that as much as 15,000 jobs could be at risk in the world’s premiere financial services centre – the City of London. 

This is not only bad news for the UK, but for Malta as well. The UK is in fact Malta’s largest trading partner and Malta’s largest source destination for our tourism market. More unemployed means less money in the UK economy means less trade and less tourism for Malta.