Malta’s Attractiveness To Foreign Investors Climbs To 81 Per Cent In EY Survey

Malta’s appeal to foreign investors has risen for the second year running, with 81 per cent of respondents to the EY Malta Attractiveness Survey 2026 rating the country as an attractive place to invest. The figure is up from 79 per cent in 2025 and 54 per cent in 2024, and represents the highest reading since 2016. The findings were presented by Simon Barberi, EY Malta Advisory and Attractiveness Programme Leader, at the EY Future Realised Conference at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta on Wednesday.

Existing investors remain firmly committed to the jurisdiction. Nine in ten companies intend to maintain or expand their operations in Malta over the coming year, with 59 per cent planning to maintain their investment and 31 per cent planning to expand. Some 78 per cent of respondents said Malta is at least as attractive as other European locations, while the share of investors who view Malta as unattractive has fallen to 13 per cent, down from 25 per cent two years ago.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as the standout growth story. Some 59 per cent of investors now identify AI as a sector expected to drive Malta’s economic growth, up from 47 per cent in the previous edition, and it was also named the sector with the greatest long term growth potential. The survey points to a maturing technology ecosystem, with investors increasingly prepared to commit to transformative digital solutions.

Prime Minister Robert Abela said the results reflected continued confidence in Malta’s economy and its long term prospects, highlighting that nine out of ten companies wish to remain or invest further in the country. He said the results supported the Government’s national AI strategy and ongoing initiatives, such as the ‘AI for All’ programme which has attracted more than 40,000 participants. Abela added that Malta’s next phase of economic growth should focus increasingly on productivity, innovation and higher value added investment. 

Speaking at the same conference, Malta Chamber President William Spiteri Bailey welcomed the headline figures and called for the country to build its competitiveness around productivity, skills and quality of life. Taken together, the findings suggest a jurisdiction whose investor base is stable, confident and increasingly oriented towards the high value sectors that will define its next decade of growth.