PRESS RELEASE
The Central Bank of Malta is cooperating with ĠEMMA to produce another set of videos aimed at promoting financial capability.
The Bank provides ongoing practical assistance to the agency and will also help with the dissemination of the videos via its social media presence.
“Although financial literacy is not directly one of our core functions, we believe that we should do all we can to promote a better understanding of how important it is for households to manage their finances,” Central Bank of Malta Governor Mario Vella said.
When asked about the range of topics covered by the videos, he remarked that these included using credit cards and budgeting for everyday as well as for special expenditure. “Although good financial management is of course about spending at the right time,” he remarked, “the authors have also included material on saving for a rainy day and planning for retirement.”
Mark Musu, the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for the Family, Children’s Rights, and Social Solidarity, to whom ĠEMMA reports, stated that “ĠEMMA is privileged to have entered into a Strategic Partnership Memorandum of Agreement with the Central Bank of Malta to produce a series of short videos on money management education”. Mr Musu added that this is the first of the series that the Ministry and the Central Bank of Malta are working on together. These videos, directed to instil financial capability knowledge amongst the general public, add to the education resources available to ĠEMMA to meet this objective.
The videos can be easily accessed from https://gemma.gov.mt/videos-gemma-bagitjar-u-ppjanar/
ĠEMMA was formed in January 2019, after the Pensions Strategy Group suggested the setting up of a multi-stakeholder working group, consisting of the Office of the Permanent Secretary, Ministry for the Family and Social Solidarity, the Department for Social Security, the Department of Quality and Standards in Education, the Malta Financial Services Authority, and Finance Malta. Following a public consultation, a strategy was launched in 2017, which stressed the need for campaigns to promote better awareness about retirement income and financial capability. The result was the setting up of the agency, which was branded ‘ĠEMMA’ – the name given to the ‘honey bee’ which fronts the ĠEMMA campaign.
Since then, ĠEMMA has been very active, offering interactive calculators to help people work out their finances, taking part in outreach events, media interviews, and even resources for teachers and parents who can act as multipliers to disseminate the information.
Other resources created by ĠEMMA:
eBooks: A series of eBooks and guidebooks created to help in various life situations.
For more information on the initiatives, visit website: gemma.gov.mt