The Iran war is likely not going to end soon. The uncertainties it has brought with it will persist and predicting for how long they will last is not easy. Clearly, the military aspects and consequences of the conflict could be inflicting long term substantial damage to the wellbeing and infrastructures of contiguous countries, including as far away as ours.

Less clear is their impact on economic prospects. In our case, this covers both the internal economic situation as well as the ways by which we earn a living from the exportation of goods and services, with tourism at top of the list. War tensions have heightened fears about emerging scarcities. As a result, European familes are experiencing a rise in their cost of living. Will they be as eager to travel as they were in the recent past? And meanwhile, how will travel costs be rising and by how much, since among others, aircraft kerosene will be scarcer and/or more costly?

The uncertainties generated by war do not result only from the  growing sense of insecurity but also from the economic fallout. For a country like ours which is so dependent on tourism, the challenge will be to continue to effectively counter the arising problems.

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EUROPEAN DISQUIET CONTINUES

Week after week, a sense of political and economic disquiet has been spreading around Europe - both inside and outside the EU. And it's not being caused just by the Ukraine and Iran wars, troubles with the US over the Atlantic Alliance, persisting inflation and unsatisfactory economic growth rates - developments that at the end of the day, are all inter-related.

It's almost as if the model according to which Europe has been run - whether by democratic socialists or demochrisitians/conservatives - has lost its dynamism and is not able to face up to the blatant dilemmas and contradictions that have emerged. A case in point is migration. On the one hand, it is giving scope for the emergence of new and strong, politically extreme movements. But on the other hand, with its population in constant decline, Europe needs emigration to sustain itself, not least in the social field.

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REPUTATION

A story in the New York Times reported recently about the ways by which major US corporations are avoiding taxes by registering their profits in countries that allow them to legally declare they have paid all their taxes as due. At the forefront of these countries the NYT picked on Malta.

Last year, the Trump administration exited from the programme that was being established internationally to block the operations of countries considered as "tax havens". This again opened the doors through which corporations previously passed in their efforts to avoid taxes.

Over the years too, Malta had gotten tagged with the reputation of being a "tax haven". It's difficult to suggest that this has been good for our international standing even if meanwhile, our financial services confirmed their reputation as a main pillar of the Maltese economy.