Government aims to double financial services' contribution to GDP

One of the government’s visions for 2015 is to increase the contribution of the financial services sector to GDP from 12 to 25 per cent, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said.

Opening a national conference of the government’s vision for 2015, the minister said this vision was not the government’s but the country’s.

Pointing out that many considered the current international financial crisis as the 9/11 attacks on the financial sector, Mr Fenech said that all governments across the world were trying to respond actively to this situation.

The historical success of the Maltese economy depended on its diversification and that was why the government had chosen six pillars on which to focus. These included manufacturing, tourism, financial services and IT - all of which were important sectors for the economy.

Education and health, the other two sectors, could also contribute to the economy and all six sectors were closely linked and had a spill-over effect on each other.

Mr Fenech also spoke on the need to attract higher end tourism focusing on the country’s cultural heritage and improving its productivity. There also had to be a focus on health tourism using private hospitals.

The conference, which will be closed by the Prime Minister later, is currently divided in six workshops on each of the six pillars of the 2015 vision.