The responsibilities of the Central Bank of Malta in the area of statistics

Article 5 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) and of the European Central Bank (ECB) confers upon the ECB the competence to collect, with the assistance of the national central banks (NCBs), the statistical information necessary to perform the tasks of the ESCB, either from the competent national authorities or directly from economic agents. Article 14.3 of the Statute, in turn, specifies that the NCBs are an integral part of the ESCB and shall act in accordance with the guidelines and instructions of the ECB. The ESCB’s statistical function is guided by a number of overriding principles and an agreed governance structure.

The Central Bank of Malta, through its Statistics Office, is entrusted with the collection, compilation and dissemination of statistics as specified below. The Bank is empowered to carry out these functions by virtue of article 24 of the Central Bank of Malta Act (Cap. 204), as amended, which specifies that “in accordance with the Treaty and the Statute and the guidelines and instructions of the ECB, the Bank may issue directives providing for the definition and imposition of its statistical reporting requirements, establishing the standards for transmission and accuracy of statistical information, and specifying the conditions under which the right to verify or to carry out the compulsory collection of statistical information may be exercised under the provisions of sub-article (2)”.

Money, banking and other financial intermediation activities are areas in which the Bank has primary responsibility, at the national level, for collecting statistics. In the area of financial accounts the Central Bank of Malta is responsible for compiling quarterly and annual statistics covering all sectors of the economy. In addition, the Bank is involved, together with the National Statistics Office, in the compilation of Malta’s balance of payments (BOP) and its international investment position (IIP). The Central Bank is also responsible for the compilation of statistics on Malta's external debt and gross external reserves, as well as for drawing up the official reserves template. It is also responsible for the compilation, in line with the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) methodology, of the government finance statistics required annually by the Fund. The division of responsibilities between the Central Bank of Malta and the NSO in the area of statistics can be found in the cooperation agreement signed between the two institutions in October 2010.

Other statistics collected include those on government finance drawn up in accordance with the European System of Accounts (ESA 1995) and a range of other economic and financial statistics, on both domestic and international developments. In addition, the Bank disseminates various other statistics, such as those related to financial markets and payments systems.