Malta’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force’s increased monitoring is a testament to our political resolve and commitment to deliver reform. The government is also committed to modernise the institutions of our country, to adapt to the realities of a changing world and to deliver on the promise of higher standards.

In record time, Malta was removed from the FATF’s increased monitoring after the task force recognised the significant progress Malta has made to address the deficiencies identified a year earlier.

It’s vital for us all to understand that Malta’s removal from the grey list was not just good news for the government but for the whole country. For ‘Team Malta’. It reminded us all that, when we work together towards a common goal and objective, we can achieve great things.

We committed ourselves to deliver the action plan agreed with the FATF in an expeditious and sustainable manner. We were determined to address the recommended actions within the shortest time possible. And we succeeded.

This achievement is the result of the hard work of our authorities and their people. Maintaining coordination while individually devising and implementing their comprehensive plans ensured that there was a coherent and effective approach throughout the process. This was indeed crucial for us to achieve our objectives within the targeted time frame.

The government is grateful to them for their professionalism and commitment and we reiterate that they will continue to receive both our support and the necessary resources. Our institutions have, once again, risen to the occasion, despite the fact that they not only had to work hard to deliver on the reforms but they also continuously faced the unjust criticism of certain factions of the opposition.

Furthermore, we engaged in open dialogue with industries that were concerned about how the greylisting could affect them and their careers and how the professions and fields they work in would be impacted. The government gave its reassurance that we were doing all we could to address the ongoing issues, mitigate the potential impact on our industries and put a sustainable framework in place.

In fact, sectors such as gaming and financial services continued to grow and created even more job opportunities. 

We have demonstrated that a strong rule of law framework and economic growth can go hand in hand- Rebecca Buttigieg

And we achieved this while the country still had to attend to other priorities. We had to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine, energy prices and also safeguard our economy. In fact, in the three financial quarters since Malta started working on the action plan agreed with the FATF, real GDP growth averaged at 11 per cent per quarter.

Our economic growth remained strong and, over and above that, we even managed to achieve unprecedented levels of employment in the financial services and gaming sectors. We have indeed demonstrated that a strong rule of law framework and economic growth can go hand in hand.

Not only have we met these high standards but we have actually turned things around. Now, Malta stands as an example to other jurisdictions as we are sharing our technical expertise and best practice with international counterparts.

The government, led by Prime Minister Robert Abela, showed that it is determined and committed to see our country grow and reform.

Since January 2020, we have implemented unprecedented reforms to strengthen democracy and the institutions that deliver it, with the instilling of anti-corruption and good governance practices as one of our key priorities. Other reforms have also been implemented which have strengthened the independence of the justice system while other institutional reforms were also carried out.

The strong mandate given to the Labour Party by the electorate in March bolstered our resolve to further our commitments, nurture the culture change we started and sustain the momentum we have achieved so far.

And throughout this legislature, we will continue implementing more reforms as listed in the Labour Party’s manifesto ahead of this year’s general election.

Rebecca Buttigieg is parliamentary secretary for reforms and equality.