Malta Country Profile business trade issues

Malta

DOING BUSINESS

Local business incentives - Legal forms of companies - Registration and licensing procedures - Legal framework - Foreign exchange control - Regulations concerning equity investment - FDI inflows - Expertise of the political risk

Local business incentives

Foreign investments are encouraged by the government. The organisationrespondible for promoting international investments in Malta is Malta Enterprise, which is a governement body established on 1st January 2004. The government provides certain aids for domestic investors as well. The details of such aids are defined in theBusiness Promotion Act of 1988. A summary, written by Malta Entreprise, which provides help to set up in Malta is available here.

Legal forms of companies

Form	Number of partners/shareholders	Minimum and/or maximum capital	Liability	Registration fee	Release of financial documents
Private Limited Liability Company (LTD)	Minimum 1 shareholder, maximum 50 shareholders	500 Lm (10,000 Lm if the company is under foreign control).	The liability of the partner is limited to the amount of the capital contributed	100 on 573 Lm.	yes
Sole Proprietorship	1 partner	No minimum capital required	The liability of the partner is unlimited	..	yes
General Partnership	Minimum 2 partners, maximum 20 partners	No minimum capital required	Each partner is personally and indefinitely responsible for the debts and other commitments on behalf of the company	..	..
Limited Partnership	Minimum 2 partners, maximum 20 partners	No minimum capital required	At least one of the partners is responsible personally and indefinitely for the debts and other commitments on behalf of the company	..	..

Registration and licensing procedures
All new companies need to get registered with the Inland Revenue Department and the department in charge of the Value Added Tax ( VAT). In case of companies having salaried employees, it is also necessary to make such declarations with the Employment Training Corporation (ETC) and with the Ministry of Social Affairs. Moreover, the limited liability companies and the affiliates of foreign companies need to register themselves with the register of companies.

Foreign exchange control
Foreign investments need to be approved by the Central Bank of Malta (Exchange Control Division). There is no minimum limit fixed for the amount to be invested in the country (except when establishing a Limited Liability Company, a minimum capital of 10,000 Lm is required). Profits can be freely repatriated to the country of origin.

Foreign Direct Investment inflows in Malta

FDI inflows	2003	2004	2005	World rank (*) 2005
FDI inflows (USD million)	958	309	562	8/141

Source : UNCTAD - World Investment Report
Note : (*) World Rank = UNCTAD Inward FDI Performance Index. It is a measure of the extend to which a host country receives inward FDI relative to its economic size. It is calculated as a ratio of the country's share in global FDI inflows to its share in global GDP.

Last modified in 2006 - ongoing update