A difficult year and a sigh of relief

If Robbie Williams and Frank Sinatra were asked to select a year to coincide with their serenade 'it was a good year' it would undoubtedly not be 2001.
This was a tough year for business in Malta. Cash strapped business struggled to make ends meet and when the year ended there was a sigh of relief

The year of the equity decline
Action on the Malta Stock Exchange this year was unfortunately notable for the somewhat drastic declines in all the equities listed on the MSE, with the exceptions only of International Hotel Investments and the First International Merchant Bank

INTERVIEWS 2001

A year of the interview
The interview has always served as an integral feature of the Malta Financial and Business Times, bringing the words of industry leaders and policy makers out of the press releases and to life

NEWSMAKERS 2001

Victor Zammit and the Price Club fiasco
Prior to this year, businessman Victor Zammit was known for his involvement in the Birkirkara football club and for his other business activities, which afforded him newspaper headlines every now and then. However, with the emergence of the Price Club fiasco, which left its creditors scrambling for the funds, Zammit undoubtedly became one of the main business newsmakers of 2001. Following is a brief chronology of the debacle’s developments

The year of the mobile phone
While the Chinese ushered in the Year of the Snake in 2001, Malta ushered in its very own, Year of the Mobile Phone.

From taxation to benevolence
It was a rough awakening in January last year for a sizeable segment of Malta’s middle class, as the year signalled the end of their non taxable fringe benefit