European executives polled on investment prospects

Twenty-Six top executives of foreign-owned companies last month took part in the Malta Attractiveness Survey 2006, carried out by Ernst & Young Malta.

Carried out in parallel with Ernst & Young's European Attractiveness Survey 2006, it investigated the perceptions on the reasons for foreign companies to retain, expand or develop their investment.

It includes these executives' ratings for key criteria that attract investment to a country, their views on the effects of EU membership on their companies' performance and Malta's planned adoption of the euro.

The survey also shows the executives' perceptions over the last year as well as for the next three years, of Malta as a location for a company to retain, develop or expand its activities. The executives were also asked to mention the measures that Government should adopt to improve Malta's attractiveness.

The two main sources of the European survey were the European Investment Monitor, a database E&Y created in 1997 of actual investment projects and the analysis of perceptions and expectations of over a thousand international senior executives that were interviewed between March and April.

The European Attractiveness Survey 2006 was presented and discussed at the World Investment Conference in La Baule, France, between June 6 and 8, attended by top company executives. The European Attractiveness Survey 2006 can be downloaded from www.ey.com and the Malta survey from www.ey.com/malta