The following is a statement issued by the Finance Ministry

The editorial on the Malta Business Weekly has today taken to task Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna for having written twice to the Financial Times, in defence of Malta’s financial sector. It is incredible that a financial paper, whose interest it is to see a thriving financial sector in its home country, would denigrate a minister for trying to correct certain distorted impressions of the industry promoted by a small minority of local individuals.

The Malta Business Weekly editorial got it all wrong when it created a non-story based on factually wrong information, namely that the second letter sent by the minister was not deemed worthy of publication by the Financial Times.

In point of fact, the said second letter was indeed published on the 17th August.

The Ministry for Finance thinks that editorials deserve to be better informed and researched. Malta has every reason to be proud of its thriving financial sector and should not hesitate to defend its reputation in the foreign press.