Editorial

Malta's performance as measured by the Lisbon Review just published by the World Economic Forum in Geneva has been described as "reasonably well". Malta has placed fourth, after Estonia, Slovenia and Latvia, in the list of EU accession countries that also includes, for purposes of the survey, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria, but excludes Cyprus. Considering Malta's limitations and the vulnerability of its economy, the island is moving ahead in the areas covered by the survey.

According to the World Economic Forum, the second Lisbon Review makes tough reading for European policy-makers and business leaders. In fact, many countries were struggling to make progress, it said. A most interesting assessment is that some of the EU members, particularly those of southern Europe, "are falling behind, so much so that several of the accession countries are beating them on many of the criteria".

The eight dimensions measured by the Lisbon Review 2004 are: Creating an information society for all; developing a European area for innovation and research and development; liberalisation (completing the single market, state aid and competition policy); building network industries; creating efficient and integrated financial services; improving the enterprise environment; increasing social inclusion and enhancing sustainable development.

Scores are one to seven.

Malta's index score is 4.2, with Estonia scoring the highest, 4.64, in the list of accession countries. Taking a quick glance at the scores, it is most interesting to find, for instance, that at 4.42, Malta's "information society" score is higher than that of Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece. The highest is Finland's, 5.78, followed by Denmark's, 5.68. As expected, Malta's "innovation and research and development" score is very down, just 2.99, lower than most.

At 5.27, Malta's score for "financial services" is high too, higher in fact than that of Spain, Italy, Portugal and Greece and second to Estonia's 5.43. Another high score for Malta is that for "social inclusion", 4.83, when compared with those for Germany, 4.37, France, 4.72, Spain, 4.38, and Italy, 4.24. Malta scores low in "sustainable development", just 3.24.

The World Economic Forum says the review captured the perspective of the business community in Europe to gain a better understanding of the extent to which countries in the region were succeeding in their efforts to create the most dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010.

Some of the scores for Malta are in fact surprisingly good when compared with those of EU countries.

The progress made in the island's financial services is well reflected in the score and will no doubt serve as a good advertisement for Malta. Taking the review and Malta's scores as a whole, it would seem that while the country is indeed passing through a difficult phase in its economic development, the overall situation is not all that black. There are areas where the country is making progress and it is well to keep an objective outlook when making an overall assessment.

The World Economic Forum's second Lisbon Review comes on the eve of the fifth European Union enlargement, one that will hopefully help Malta, through its membership, to move into a new phase in development.