Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/547695
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 29 JULY 2015 17 Events MSV Life supports research on financial literacy in Malta MSV Life has long been engaged in the enhancement and spread of financial literacy. It strongly believes that a wider understand- ing and awareness of the concepts and workings of financial and life insurance services will help small individual investors to make bet- ter use of their savings for their future, particularly by way of sup- plementing their state pensions. For this pupose, MSV Life has given its full support to research work undertaken by a student, Ann-Marie Mangion, reading for Bachelor of Commerce, Banking and Finance of the University of Malta in connection with a dis- sertation on the subject of "An Analysis of Financial Literacy in Malta". The survey covered 1,255 respondents and was based on a pilot study undertaken by the Or- ganisation for Economic Corpora- tion and Development (OECD) in 2012. MSV Life has helped in the compilation of the required data, the development of the surveys and the encouragment of respons- es to the surveys. A very interesting finding which came out of this study was that while most Maltese persons have an acceptable understanding of basic financial concepts, the majority were not applying this knowledge when making savings and long-term investment deci- sions. It emerged that only 21.9% of those surveyed held specific plans for their retirement and that only 21% of those aged 53 or under had an idea of what their applica- ble state pension would be. Other revealing conclusions were that no less than 45% of respondents showed an attitude of living for to- day and not caring to save for the future. Also, as many as 40% of re- spondents are not in the habit of having a household budget which is essential for generating savings and planning for the future. These statistics are a cause for concern in that they reveal attitudes and behaviour which fail to provide for circumstances in life when a person needs to access funds in an emergency or to enjoy a decent retirement, which may last a good 20/30 years. Commenting on these findings, David G. Curmi, CEO of MSV Life, emphasised the role of his compa- ny to continue to ecourage people to understand the importance of managing their finances respon- sibly and of taking balanced deci- sions which will ensure that they can continue to enjoy their desired lifestyle over the long term. Curmi said: "Our company is committed to contribute towards developing a stronger savings culture in Malta. The trend of di- minishing savings in Malta is not unique to the island but is, indeed, a European-wide phenomenon." Also, Stuart Fairbairn, Chief Officer Business Development, explained that the company "con- tinuously strives to make tools available to the public at large with the intention of making fi- nancial education easily accessible to all". As examples, he referred to the MSV Simple Guides, the free online calculator on MSV website which is easy to use and may be very helpful in making financial decisions as well as the informa- tion available in the company's Facebook page. MSV Life's Business Development Senior Executive Sara Pavia (left) with Ann-Marie Mangion AX charity football tournament raises €2,680 in aid of Inspire THE fourth edition of the AX char- ity football tournament has raised a total of €2,680 in aid of Inspire. This was the largest amount ever collected from this charity event, which over the past four years has raised €8255. The tournament was organised by the management and employees of The Palace & The Victoria Hotel, with the support of Franklin Azzopardi, Sales Corpo- rate Manager. The tournament was this year held at the Floriana FC grounds, which were offered free by the club. This year a record total of 110 football players and 12 teams participated in the tournament hailing from Bese- do, Ghana Embassy, Hilton Malta, Pokerstars, Valletta Gateway Termi- nals, Hotset, Consolidated Biscuits, Bank of Valleta, Inspire, Methode and 6 PM Ltd. The aim for next year is to increase the total number of participating teams to 16 in an ef- fort to increase the total funds for Inspire. Playing five-a-side football with thirty minutes each way, the after- noon was filled with friendly tackles and well taken goals. The tourna- ment was won by Consolidated Bis- cuits followed by Ghana embassy in second place. However, when play- ing for a good cause all participating teams are winners. MCAST art students draw inspiration from water for exhibition DESIGN students from MCAST Institute for the Creative Arts put on their annual end-of-year exhi- bition, drawing on the theme of water. HSBC Water Programme – Catch the Drop was the main supporter of this year's exhibition, which was held under the theme of 'Water Conservation'. Activities in connection with the exhibition featured 3D water projections, digital, printed, in- teractive and visual exhibits, the launch of two music videos for the HSBC Water Programme songs, a moving image show and a fashion show. Students from Our Lady Im- maculate School presented the popular HSBC Water Programme songs in front of a large audience comprised of MCAST fraternity, and aficionados of arts. MEP Therese Commodini Cachia was present for the event. HSBC Water Programme – Catch the Drop coordinator Glenn Bugeja said, "By engaging with MCAST, we have managed to expand the outreach of the HSBC Water Programme – Catch the Drop to include further and higher vocational education sec- tor. Furthermore, the addition of such a high profile event will fur- ther echo our messages of water conservation, as well as pave way for a permanent new exhibition gallery which can be used for fu- ture exhibitions." Central Bank of Malta releases economic update for July ECONOMIC activity in Malta continued to expand robustly in the first quarter of 2015, with real gross domestic product (GDP) in- creasing by 4.0% on a year earlier. Growth was driven by net exports, as domestic demand declined. Indicators for manufacturing and tourism point to further ex- pansion in the second quarter of 2015. Buoyant economic activity is be- ing reflected in the labour market, with employment expanding and the unemployment rate remain- ing at historically low levels. Price pressures remain contained. The annual rate of inflation, based on the Harmonised Index of Con- sumer Prices (HICP), eased to 1.1% in June. In May, Maltese resi- dents' deposits expanded further on a year earlier, while the annual rate of growth of credit to resi- dents turned positive. As regards fiscal developments, the general government deficit widened in the first quarter of 2015. However, during the first five months of the year, the defi- cit on the Consolidated Fund de- creased compared with the same period of 2014. On the external side, the current account of the balance of payments was in sur- plus in the first quarter of 2015. Output, demand and the labour market Economic activity in Malta con- tinued to grow strongly during the first quarter of 2015, with real GDP rising at an annual rate of 4.0%, a slight deceleration from 4.2% in the previous quarter. Growth was driven by net ex- ports. While exports fell on a year earlier, imports declined at an even faster pace. As a result, net exports turned positive and con- tributed 4.2 percentage points to real GDP growth, outweighing a drop in domestic demand. Exports dropped by 5.5%, year- on-year, mostly due to lower for- eign sales of goods, while services exports dropped only slightly. Re- flecting the reduction in exports and weaker domestic demand, total imports fell by 7.9%. This drop also stemmed largely from imports of goods. Domestic demand contracted by 0.3% on a year earlier, dampen- ing real GDP growth by 0.2 per- centage points. Investment fell by 18.3% when compared with 6 the first quarter of 2014, reversing the increases registered in 2 the pre- vious five quarters. Thus, invest- ment reduced real GDP growth by 4.1 percentage points. The fall in investment can be largely attrib- uted to lower spending on non- residential construction and ma- chinery. Conversely, investment in dwellings rose, as did expendi- ture on transport equipment. The decrease in investment off- set growth in the other compo- nents of domestic demand. Private consumption continued to rise, sustained by further growth in employee com- pensation, contributing 1.3 per- centage points to GDP growth. However, at 2.3%, the annual growth rate of private consump- tion halved compared with the previous quarter. Government consumption growth also slowed down signifi- cantly, with the annual growth rate dropping to 3.6% from 8.3% in the previous three-month pe- riod. The deceleration reflected more moderate growth in both compensation of employees and intermediate consumption. At the same time, changes in in- ventories had a large positive im- pact on growth. Nominal GDP growth moder- ated slightly in the first quarter of 2015, with the annual rate edg- ing down to 6.0%, compared with 6.4% in the last quarter of 2014. The annual rate of growth of gross value added (GVA) remained un- changed, at 5.2%. Services con- tinued to drive the expansion in GVA. The strongest contributions came from the sectors incorpo- rating professional & scientific activities and public administra- tion, health & education, which together accounted for almost half of the increase in GVA. Strong in- creases were also recorded from the sectors comprising wholesale & retail trade, financial services and utilities. Meanwhile, GVA in the construction sector increased marginally, whereas that in man- ufacturing declined. The available information for the second quarter of 2015 shows signs of recovery in manufactur- ing and continued growth in tour- ism. From left: Vince Galea and Giovanna Mirabile Bartolo from Inspire, Kevin Callus, General Manager, and Franklin Azzopardi,Sales Corporate Manager