Malta acceded to full membership of the European Community on the 1 May 2004. Since then it has called itself a proud member of the Union, and has made every effort to promote the aims of the European project. Recently Malta responded to the financial woes of some member states by swelling its guarantee to the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) from €398m to €704m. In parallel Parliament also ratified a loan to the tune of €24m, which formed part of a bailout facility granted to Greece.
Malta is certainly not immune to the financial burden of these contributions. Along with other member states, it too has taken austerity measures to offset this latest financial crisis. However, the government of Malta has been credited by Standard and Poor’s for implementing effective and sustainable economic policies. These maintained its low deficit levels throughout the 2007-2009 global economic crisis to date. Such that S&P has paid complement to Malta’s efforts by reaffirming its A/A1 sovereign credit rating. Malta’s banking system has also seen continued growth in these times of instability where banking assets now represent over 750% of GDP.