2458. 🇲🇹 Malta Commemorates Chinese New Year.

 

New issues.

🇲🇹 MaltaPost -

29 February 2024 - Chinese New Year, Year of the Dragon - 1 miniature sheet containing a single stamp. Designed by Fabio Agius and lithographed by Printex and perforated 13.5 x 13. Rating:- *.

🇮🇳 India Post.

23 February 2024 - Commemoration of Sarangadar Das, Odin politician - 1 srptamp. Lithographed. Rating:- *.

27 February 2024 - Centenary of the All India Railway Men’s Federation. Lithographed. Perforated:- *.

🇺🇸 Intergovernmental Philatelic Corporation -

The USA-based producer and purveyor of philatelic items on behalf of several Commonwealth philatelic entities - IGPC - has now updated its internet site up to and including January 2024 (see Blogs 2429 and 2454) and has added no further new IGPC-produced items in the December 2023 or January 2024 lists. This means, I assume that we can conclude that 2023 did indeed see an enormous reduction in the number of issues produced by IGPC, especially in the second half of the year. The reason for this is unknown to me and one can only speculate. 

IGPC therefore seems to have ended the year with the following totals of issues - 

🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda - 6  issues

🇩🇲 Dominica - 0 issues

🇬🇲 The Gambia - 3 issues

🇬🇭 Ghana - 31 issues (!)

🇬🇩 Grenada - 7 issues

🇬🇩 Grenada Carriacou and Petite Martinique - 1 issue

🇬🇾 Guyana - 10 issues 

🇲🇸 Montserrat - 0 issues

🇰🇳 Nevis - 4 issues

🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea - 0 issues

🇰🇳 St. Kitts - 1 issue

🇻🇨 St Vincent and The Grenadines - 2 issues 

🇹🇨 Turks and Caicos Islands - 1 issue

🇹🇻 Tuvalu - 6 issues.

This makes a grand total of  72 IGPC issues (for Commonwealth entities) having been released by the agency during 2023. This compares with 132 such issues in 2022. Therefore in 2023 IGPC released just 54.5% of its 2022 total - quite a fall. Interesting too that 42.1% of the 2023 total number of issues were produced with the name of Ghana printed on them, IGPC having only recently reacquired a contract with the Ghanaian postal service to produce philatelic products on its behalf.

So what next as regards stamp issues from the territories with contracts with IGPC? Perhaps more will become clear as 2024 moves along.