MaltaIndependent - Business Weekly 16/01/2014: No economy can move ahead by just standing still. The only imperative is to grow as standing still will only mean regression, recession and unemployment. All through the past decades of Malta as an independent state, the search was on for drivers of growth.
The first years after Independence saw an emphasis on changing from a sea base of a naval power to the first timid steps towards industrialisation and tourism. These two drivers were retained, with adjustments, in the next period which saw Malta push for more industrialisation and tourism. This was accompanied by unorthodox if not downright pillage as last week’s long-awaited judgement on the legality of the National Bank takeover reminded us.
For a long time, our economy resonated of a centralised economy with strict controls on importation and import substitution. But in the third phase of our independence, this was removed and the country allowed to breathe as an open economy. Importation was liberalised and the country soon adopted all the trappings of...read on.
