Malta has become the 31st country to adhere to IMF's most rigorous standards on financial transparency, the UN's financial agency said on Monday.
The International Monetary Fund said in a statement, Malta now adhered to its Special Data Dissemination Standard Plus, the highest tier of the IMF’s data standards initiatives.
These standards guide member countries in the dissemination of national statistics to the public. The SDDS Plus tier is the most rigorous one.
"By adhering to the SDDS Plus, Malta complies with the most rigorous standards for disseminating essential macroeconomic and financial data about the state of the economy and its financial linkages as established in the IMF Data Standards Initiatives," the IMF said.
"It is a strong testament to the country’s commitment to data transparency vis-à-vis the public, markets, and the international community. Data transparency fosters efficiency in markets, leads to better policies and enhances accountability in policymaking by allowing a richer and well-informed debate and analysis of the country’s economic policy issues."
The IMF said that through this most recent upgrade, Malta has committed itself to disseminating new data categories more regularly.
These categories include general government gross debt, financial soundness indicators, sectoral balance sheets, and debt securities, among others.
Director of the IMF’s Statistics Department Bert Kroese welcomed Malta’s adherence to the SDDS Plus, adding that this "not only provides a richer canvas for macroeconomic and financial sector analyses but could also help bolster Malta’s standing in international capital markets”.
In February, the IMF praised Malta for its "remarkable" economic recovery after COVID-19 but urged the country to plan the easing of energy subsidies and prepare for reform of the corporate tax system.
In its annual assessment of the country, the IMF Executive Board observed that although inflation has picked up, it remained among the lowest in the euro area, reflecting the government’s policy to freeze retail electricity and fuel prices for all consumers.