The Consumer Markets Scoreboard is an important indicator of how markets are functioning for EU consumers.  This serves as a tool for policy makers to identify those markets in which priority for action is necessary.  Like the previous Scoreboards, this eight edition ranks the EU Member States and the different markets which account for more than 60% of the household budget.

A Market Performance Indicator (MPI) has been used to determine the situation of each of the 51 markets, including products and services, under study. This index is based on four components; comparability, trust, problems and complaints, and satisfaction.  A high MPI means that the market is performing well whilst a low MPI indicates that action needs to be taken in that particular sector. 

Malta has performed very well in this year’s Consumer Markets Scoreboard finishing before the UK and France and ranking 5th though with the same MPI of 79.8 as Finland which has been ranked as 4th.  In fact, Malta is the only Southern European country that ranked among the top 5 in the MPI country rank.

Malta performed better or at par with the EU27 with respect to 11 out 21 goods market and 14 out of 28 service markets.  An excellent result was obtained in Bank Accounts Services where Malta ranked at the top position. The highest drop was witnessed for local transport where Malta ranked among the lowest positions.

This is a significant improvement over the last two years during which Malta ranked 17th in 2010 and 11th in 2011. This is evidence of better performing markets and an increase in consumer confidence over all sectors.