The military intervention in Libya could have a negative impact on tourism as conflict in a neighbouring country could throw a bad light on the island viewed as holiday destination, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech has warned.
The scale of such an impact depended on how long the situation in Libya persisted, he said last Friday on a visit to the Malta Stock Exchange.
“On an economic level there is a concern because we know there are a number of Maltese enterprises in Libya,” he said. The government was evaluating the situation and a helpdesk at Malta Enterprise had been set up.
He said direct business with Libya had halted completely and this had affected a number of factories that negotiated directly with the country. Since a number of workers had fled the country, this too would have an impact.
Asked whether the local stock exchange was considering mergers with foreign ones, in the wake of a wave of proposed mergers among international stock exchanges, the minister said:
“This was a lengthy strategic decision that depended on where the proposal was coming from. At this stage, although there were a number of enquiries, nothing materialised.”
The Cabinet approved the privatisation of the MSE in principle in 2006. However in 2009 Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said the plans were unlikely to go ahead according to the original timeframe.
During the walkabout of the stock exchange, Mr Fenech passed a positive comment about the number of female employees he was meeting. MSE has a 70 per cent female staff, CEO Eileen Muscat said.
“We don’t need positive discrimination here,” she joked proudly.
Over €904 million in financial instruments were issued on the Malta Stock Exchange in 2010, a record year which saw an increase of more than €100 million on 2009’s primary market, chairman Arthur Galea Salomone said.
Meanwhile, new Treasury Bills issued last year reached a value of €1.3 billion.
Activity on the secondary market surpassed €515 million, so that total market capitalisation at the year’s end stood at €8.2 billion. The share index rose by around nine per cent.
The MSE registered a pre-tax profit of €1.7 million last year, up by €0.5 million on 2009, which the chairman attributed to increased efficiency and cost rationalisation.
Dr Galea Salomone pointed out that the momentum of bonds issuance was likely to decrease in comparison with the past two years. This year would see a consolidation of the MSE’s operations as it implemented processes to improve its infrastructure and launch new services.
This year shareholders will be able to participate electronically in listed companies’ annual or extraordinary general meetings. Next month, the MSE will launch a platform to facilitate international trading, in collaboration with Clearstream Banking SA.