The National Statistics Office's acting director general has been officially appointed to the role, the Malta Statistics Authority announced on Tuesday.  

Etienne Caruana.

Etienne Caruana, a mathematics and physics graduate with a Masters degree in statistics, was made acting director general in January 2018 following the resignation of his predecessor, Reuben Fenech. 

Mr Caruana joined the NSO 18 years ago as a statistician. In 2005, he was appointed Manager with direct responsibility for Social Statistics including demography, education, national surveys such as the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions and the Household Budgetary Survey, and culture. In 2009, he became director, leading labour market, tourism, demography, migration, education and cross-sectional regional statistics. Mr Caruana was also responsible for the Economic Statistics Directorate. 

In a statement announcing his appointment, the authority highlighted Mr Caruana's contacts with the European Commission, International Monetary Fund and United Nations, as well as national statistical institutes of many countries.

For many years, he was a member of the European Directors of Social Statistics working group and worked with Eurostat on sectoral reviews and technical assistance to non-EU countries.

Mr Caruana is also a member of the European Statistical System Committee, the highest decision-making body on statistical matters within the Commission. At the local level, he gave a contribution to several professional bodies, including the Pensions Strategy Working Group.