Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1132126
20.06.19 2 NEWS Massimo Costa MALTA'S GDP increased by 4.8% during the fi rst three months of 2019 compared to the same period the previous year, a report shows. e macro update report published by global credit rating agency DBRS on Monday indicates that the growth in Maltese GDP for that period surpassed all other euro area countries. e top growth performers for the fi rst quarter of 2019 were small economies - with Estonia and Lithuania register- ing the second and third highest GDP increases after Malta, at 4.6% and 3.8% respectively. On the other hand, the three largest eurozone economies - Italy, Germany and France - underperformed, achieving year-on-year growth rates of -0.1%, 0.7% and 1.2% respectively. Real GDP in the euro area grew by 0.4% in 2019, the report says, up from 0.2% in the previous quarter. Compared with the same quarter in 2018, GDP rose by 1.2%. DBRS noted that external uncertainties over an escalation in protectionism and a no-deal Brexit continued to weigh on the euro area's manufacturing sector, with Germany projected 2019 growth hav- ing recently been revised downwards to 0.5%, as weak external demand is aff ect- ing German exports and industry. e eurozone's economic sentiment was also infl uenced by the external un- certainties, with a deterioration hav- ing been registered here even in strong growth performers like Spain, which managed a 2.4% year-on-year growth for Q1 2019. While economic sentiment in the euro area might be bottoming out, the report said that weakness in global trade is ex- pected to be more persistent. In June, the European Central Bank (ECB) revised up its economic growth projection for the EU19 to 1.2%, up only 0.1% from its March 2019 projecting but refl ecting a better-than-expected Q1 re- sult. Malta's unemployment rate third-lowest At 3.5%, Malta had the third-lowest unemployment rate in the EU19 in April 2019, the report shows. Germany, with 3.2%, and the Netherlands, with 3.3%, had the lowest and second-lowest rates respectively. e euro area seasonally adjusted un- employment rate was 7.6% in April 2019, down from 8.4% a year ago. is is the lowest rate recorded in the Euro area since August 2008. 1.7% inflation rate for Malta in April 2019 e euro area infl ation rate in May 2019 stood at 1.2%, down from 1.7% in April. For Malta, the April infl ation rate also stood at 1.7%, same as the eurozone average. e highest contribution to the infl a- tion rate in the monetary union came from energy, followed by food, alcohol and tobacco services, and non-energy industrial goods. Core infl ation - excluding food and energy items – fell to 1.2% in May from 1.4% in April 2019. e average infl a- tion rate for the fi rst fi ve months of 2019 was 1.4% compared to 1.8% in 2018 as a whole. Malta registers highest GDP growth in eurozone in first three months of 2019 Maltese GDP grows by 4.8% in rst quarter of this year, surpassing all euro area countries, DBRS report shows REPRESENTATIVES from over 20 companies operating in the Maltese education sector attended a half-day internation- alisation seminar organised by TradeMalta. e business seminar explored the developments and oppor- tunities of internationalising educational services. Key issues which emerged were the impor- tance of clustering between dif- ferent players in the sector, the benefi ts of having a holistic vi- sion and building a Malta brand for educational services. Other issues raised were the elimination of barriers such as issuing of student visas, and the need for a national strategy on the internationalisation of the education sector. TradeMalta opened the sem- inar with a presentation about their new information services. TradeMalta's new Internation- alisation Knowledge Platform off ers free access to leading in- ternational databases, e-learn- ing programmes and strategic reports which specifi cally target the needs of Maltese companies seeking to operate at an interna- tional level. Bernard Mallia from Equinox Group presented the fi ndings from two reports commissioned by TradeMalta which assessed the international opportuni- ties for the education sector in emerging markets. James Perry, CEO of the Fed- eration of English Language Teaching Organisations in Malta (FELTOM) presented an over- view of the latest developments and potential growth opportu- nities for the English Language sector. Stephen Vella, General Man- ager of the Gateway to Industry Programme at MCAST, provid- ed valuable insights on employ- ing alternative approaches to internationalisation, whilst Ste- phen D'Alessandro, Director of Advenio eAcademy explored the prospects of online education. e seminar included a panel discussion amongst the main speakers, which turned out to be an interactive session including the audience. TradeMalta's CEO, Anton Buttigieg, closed the seminar with an invitation to all educa- tion providers to come forward to discuss how the agency can help companies fi nd new inter- national markets. is seminar was co-funded through the European Union under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) – Operational Programme I 2014- 2020 – 'Fostering a competitive and sustainable economy to meet our challenges' . Internationalisation of education sector discussed at TradeMalta seminar