This year the Central Bank of Malta is making some important changes in its economic publications.
The bank publishes on a regular basis three publications that look at macroeconomic developments, namely the Quarterly Review, the Annual Report and the Economic Update.
The scope of the Quarterly Review, like other such reports prepared by central banks, is mainly focused on analysing in detail recent economic developments particularly in Malta. This year the Quarterly Review will once again start to be published four times annually, but it will no longer be printed. The Quarterly Review will feature a streamlined economic commentary with more space for discussion of economic research. From time to time, it will also reproduce public statements by the Governor.
On the other hand, the Annual Report gives an account of the bank’s operations during the previous year and presents its annual financial statements. It also contains an analysis of domestic and international economic and financial developments during the previous year. The Annual Report is available from the bank’s website and in printed form.
The Bank also publishes on its website a monthly Economic Update, covering the latest economic and financial developments. In August 2016, the Bank undertook an overhaul of this publication so that it focuses on a standard set of economic indicators, which are typically not covered in the Quarterly Review, such as official industrial production indicators, retail sales, administrative data on international trade, employment and unemployment and the monthly evolution of the government’s Consolidated Fund.
The Central Bank of Malta will be holding a research symposium on the topic of sustainability of macroeconomic conditions
Starting this January it also includes an indicator of business conditions computed by Bank staff which will serve as a coincident indicator of economic activity.
While the scope of the Bank’s regular publications, like other such reports prepared by central banks, is focused on analysing in detail recent economic developments, the Bank also publishes on its website research publications that deal with topical issues. Some of these are summarised and included in the Quarterly Review and Annual Report.
The Bank’s Working Papers series refers to technical research papers written by the Bank’s economists. These are published to further debate on the topic covered. The Policy Notes series refers to short briefs on selected policy issues aimed at a wider audience. Occasionally the Bank commissions or sponsors the publication of working papers by external researchers.
To mention a few examples, last year it published a study on the diversification of the Maltese economy, a review of the reforms that are leading Malta’s female participation rate to rise, an assessment of the impact of the pension age changes on potential output growth, a study of the impact of foreign workers, a detailed analysis of the competitiveness of manufacturing and of services, an assessment of property price misalignment and an in-depth evaluation of the improvement in Malta’s current account.
The Central Bank also organised a research symposium last June at which it launched a publication, Understanding the Maltese economy, that looked in depth at the transformation of the Maltese economy in the first decade since EU accession.
This year the Bank will be holding another research symposium, this time on the topic of sustainability of macroeconomic conditions, and will publish an extensive research report on the subject. This will assess the long-term growth prospects of the Maltese economy, evaluate the sustainability of our external accounts and of public debt, while looking at developments in financial conditions and property markets.
Besides this, the Bank plans to publish research on a number of topics. These include a study that will evaluate the relative size of different economic sectors in Malta taking into account their multiplier effect, and policy notes that will assess trends in the financing of companies in Malta and the country’s process of economic convergence to the EU average.
The Central Bank looks forward to interested stakeholders engaging in these and other discussions on economic issues in Malta.
Aaron Grech is chief officer economics at the Central Bank of Malta.