This study evaluates the impact of two pension-related policies introduced in Malta: the 2017 Tax Rebate on Pensions and the 2022 Exempt Pension Income measures. Using EUROMOD microsimulation model, the effects on pensioners' disposable income, work incentives, and financial well-being are...

We construct an Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) index for Malta based on the methodology of Baker, Bloom and Davis (2015) using articles published between 2004 and 2022 from four Maltese news portals. The index spikes during general elections and other significant local or international...

Economic policies are generally formulated on the basis of data available in real time, which might subsequently be revised. Implicitly, the possibility of data revisions creates an element of uncertainty around the very same data driving policy decisions. Given that such uncertainty could be...

Cyclical systemic risk arises when macro-financial imbalances accumulate over time. Past financial crises which occurred in several countries around the world have shown that heightened cyclical risk can lead to exorbitant economic and financial costs if the appropriate macroprudential policies...

This paper presents a credit gap for Malta derived from a semi-structural multivariate filter. This modelling approach has several advantages over univariate approaches typically used, for example to construct the Basel gap. The multivariate filtering of observed data into trends and cycles is...

This paper documents the extension of MEDSEA, a small open economy DSGE model for Malta, with a detailed energy sector. The model contains relatively rich fiscal and energy blocks allowing the model to simulate the transitional costs related to the economy's decarbonisation, together with the...

This study develops a framework for forecasting selected balance sheet items of the four largest Maltese core banks, with a particular emphasis on bank profitability. Methodologically, it employs two multivariate time series models, namely a Factor-Augmented VAR (FAVAR) and a Bayesian VAR...

This paper presents a Machine Learning approach adopted at the Statistics Department of the Central Bank of Malta to detect outliers in the Maltese Pension Schemes and Insurance datasets, which are collected by the Bank, at micro-level. The motive behind this study is to develop an outlier...

This paper introduces the latest addition to the modelling toolkit of the Central Bank of Malta: a static Computable General Equilibrium model for Malta named MaCGE-MOD. Developed through a collaboration with the University of Macerata, the model is a multiinput, multi-output and multi-sector...

This paper compares the main findings from the fourth wave of the Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS) for Malta with those for the euro area. This comparative report finds that in 2020 the median Maltese household held more real and financial assets than households in the euro area....