Why is malta declining

Infections in Europe. Infections, globally. Deaths in Europe. Deaths, globally. About this data Reuters is collecting daily COVID infections and deaths data for countries and territories around the world, updated regularly throughout each day. The Financial Action Task Force, an intergovernmental body that investigates, and makes recommendations for anti-money laundering initiatives, added Malta , along with Haiti, the Philippines and South Sudan to its list of countries deemed to have insufficient protections against dirty money.

Prior to the vote that placed Malta on the grey list, Malta lobbied hard with members of FATF to try and avoid its fate. Malta has long been known as a tax haven because of its low tax rates for foreign companies compared to other EU countries. I think everything really came to an end in with the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Daily official bulletins were issued showing the progress of the pandemic. The first to be locked in after the virus had spread in the community were the residents of retirement homes as well as persons over 65 and persons with underlying conditions. Next to follow were travel restrictions, school closures and remote work for public and some private sector employees. International borders were closed in between April-June The bulk of educational instruction was carried out online and through home schooling.

The state also set up a helpline, several testing stations where residents could be tested for the virus and a contact tracing unit, all of which performed to a high degree of efficiency. There was little political controversy on the handling of the pandemic by the Health Authorities led by the Ministry of Health and the Superintendent for Public Health who closely followed EU and WHO guidelines, but there were some instances of conflicting signals from other government quarters.

The vaccine rollout started in January beginning first with the most vulnerable sections of the population and health workers. Subsequently the vaccine bega n to be offered to the rest of the population by age groups.

On that day, the third booster dose began to be administered to the inmates of retirement homes. Up to that point, Malta had experienced 36, cases of Covid, 34, of whom had recovered, while had passed.

The economic impact of the pandemic has been much bigger. In , GDP contracted by an estimated 8. European Commission forecasts that growth will resume in and at 5. The situation of migrants and asylum seekers has not improved and, in some respects, has worsened due to the record number of boat people arriving in and in the first two months of Asylum applications take an inordinate amount of time to be processed: after six months in Malta some migrants are still waiting just to be interviewed.

Although intended for the most vulnerable people — for example, pregnant women and people with disabilities — it takes up to three months to secure their release from detention centres. An Eritrean migrant filed a constitutional case against the Principal Immigration Officer and the Justice and Home Affairs Minister in May , claiming a violation of his human rights due to the lengthy procedures for asylum and inhumane conditions of detention; a verdict is still awaited.

The Government affirms that it has to achieve a balance between security and humanitarian concerns, and that efforts are ceaselessly undertaken to improve conditions, but the system is currently overwhelmed: in it had to cope with 2, new arrivals, compared to 1, the previous year.

The autumn Eurobarometer 15 indicates that the Maltese are becoming increasingly pessimistic about the economy; trust in the political establishment is dwindling and expectations for an improvement in the quality of life are going down.

This was reflected in the March parliamentary elections, where voter turnout was slightly lower than usual. The issues of inequality and poverty in Malta, it is hard to quantify since statistics are not easily available. These ghettos are surely poverty traps and breeding grounds of future social tensions. Quarterly Review , Vol. Times of Malta , 29 January Press Release, No. Brussels: Concord, Meet Social Watch!