Financial services sector grows despite financial crisis - PM

The financial services sector grew by 22 per cent between the third quarter of 2008 and that of last year, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said this afternoon.

“All this at a time of recession and economic crisis,” he said.

Speaking during a visit to auditing firm Ernst & Young, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary, Dr Gonzi said there was still need for more human resources in this sector.

He said the education institutions were doing a great job, and various firms were recruiting students even in their first year at University through activities like the annual Careers Conventions.

“But we still need more students. Otherwise there will be a lot of poaching and unnecessary competition among various firms.”

He pointed out that the problem of human resources was common to other industries such as information technology and aircraft maintenance.

“But these are nice problems,” he said, pointing out that other countries were facing huge problems of unemployment.