Month: January 2021

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry is following with interest the developments related to the reopening of schools after the Christmas recess. The Chamber had stated in August and September that it was crucial for schools to remain open during this scholastic year. The experience of the first term has proved that schools are well equipped to implement social distancing, and the educational experience was a success.

The Malta Chamber acknowledges the Public Health Authorities statements in saying that there is no scientific-based evidence which shows that schools should remain closed or be shifted to obligatory virtual schooling. This will wreak havoc not only for schools and teachers themselves but more importantly, it will have long-lasting impacts on the students due to a lack of interaction with their peers and the continued pressure on working parents to stay at home leaving some economic sectors without their essential human resources at a time when the economy can least afford more interruptions.

The Chamber, therefore, calls on teachers and all state, church and independent schools to keep on adhering to the strict health protocols introduced at the beginning of this scholastic year and allow the Health Authorities to give guidance in accordance with medical evidence.

“The pandemic provided us with the right opportunity to truly appreciate and prioritise what is most important in our day-to-day lives. Covid-19 allowed us to become more sensitive towards mental and physical wellbeing. This in turn encouraged us to consume more local and fresh goods paving a move towards a healthier lifestyle,” said Perit Xuereb during an interview on the local television programme, Popolin on TVM yesterday.

The Chamber President noted that this shift in consumption would not only have a direct impact on supply and demand and therefore, a decrease in price of healthier food options but would also have a positive effect on our carbon footprint and climate change in the long run.

Commenting on the concept of a tax on food items which include excessive amounts of sugar, Xuereb said that such methods would have little to no impact on diminishing obesity levels in Malta. “The focus should be on educating and informing people of the risks associated with eating unhealthy foods in order to help control obesity levels. Introducing a tax without any sort of incentive will only put more pressure on the most vulnerable, as has been shown in studies abroad” continued Perit Xuereb.

“As we have seen throughout these past months, Covid has taught us that with the right mix of determination, education and enforcement, we can all adhere to a more safe and secure way of living,” concluded The Chamber President.

Although it is too early to share predictions regarding the outcome of the Moneyval assessment, The Malta Chamber President, Perit David Xuereb, was positive about the indications so far.

“We expect the measures the Government has been implementing to provide positive results,” said Perit Xuereb.

However, the Chamber President noted how success could not be achieved unless a unified effort was made. The Malta Chamber, as Malta’s foremost guardian of the country’s competitiveness, has taken it upon itself to lead this concerted effort, and shall endeavour, with all its resources at its disposal, to help obtain a favourable outcome for Malta, the President noted.

“It is crucial that once this assessment is behind us, all efforts are kept in place to maintain the highest of standards. We must appreciate the lessons learnt through this ordeal, and through constant proactive action and keeping transparency a priority,” concluded The Chamber President.

During the television program TVAM, The Malta Chamber President, Perit David Xuereb warned the country that although the rollout of vaccines is now well underway, achieving a pre-Covid economic situation will likely take longer than one might assume.

“As Malta’s largest business lobby group, it is our duty to share the true views of The Malta Chamber regarding the intense impact of the pandemic on Malta’s economy. The vaccine rollout is an incredibly crucial ingredient in order to move forward, but we’ll still feel the economic effects of the Covid-19 two years after achieving herd immunity,” said Xuereb.

The Chamber President explained that the country should not set up false hopes just because the vaccine is now available. “While the vaccine is a very positive development towards ‘business as usual’, it will take a while to return to a semblance of where we were in 2019. As a country, we still need to understand the true impact the pandemic had on profits, trade, customer spending behaviour and other vital commercial and economic elements,” said Xuereb.

When asked to comment on Prime Minister Robert Abela’s predictions that the economy will start recovering by March, The Chamber President noted that it will take longer and that the government should focus on designing an enhanced economic model that truly reflects the current and future realities.

“This pandemic has opened our eyes and made us realise how dependent Malta is on tourism. It would be foolish to think that tourism will reach 2019 figures during this year. Hence, it is essential to re-think our tourism strategy and focus on targeting a more intelligent type of tourism while attracting a wider variety of sectors to attain a higher level of economic equity,” concluded Perit Xuereb.

The Malta Business Bureau welcomed the news of an EU UK Free Trade Agreement, one week before the end of the transition period, which provides much legal certainty and more beneficial conditions in a wide range of important commercial areas of our relationship with the UK, despite many changes will come to effect that will nonetheless bring substantial challenges to implementation.

MBB President Simon De Cesare commented, “We are relieved that this long process that has created much uncertainty over the last four years is nearing its end. An agreement is what we repeatedly called for, and we are very pleased that now there is one to mitigate the strong impact there would have been otherwise. Nevertheless, companies engaging in commercial activity with the UK will still experience changes, as the conditions of a free trade agreement are nowhere close to operating in a single market.”

“We are confident that thanks to the information and advisory services that have been made available, companies have made the necessary preparations for this transition. However, there will still be a learning curve, both for companies as well as public authorities, once a new system comes into effect, and for this, we call on all parties to show more flexibility and understanding while ensuring compliance to the new rules,” Mr De Cesare continued.

On the agreement in general, while still having to go through the finer details, the MBB welcomes the fact that goods between the two blocs can continue to be traded free of tariffs and quotas, while meeting rules of origin criteria. Also, considering the substantial volume of agricultural and products of animal origin imports from the UK to Malta, it is positive that the EU already confirms that the UK meets the necessary standards to export such products to the EU.

Also, positive for Malta is the confirmation that all means of transport will continue to take place uninterrupted, with short term visitors not requiring a visa. There are also commitments on the safeguarding of passenger rights.

The wider impact in the area of services needs further understanding, particularly as the EU and UK have only issued declarations for the purpose of the agreement, but negotiations will continue in specific areas such as financial services and free movement of data in the coming months.

Meanwhile, challenges are expected in the recognition of professional qualifications where there is no specific arrangement outlined other than a commitment for regulators on both sides to work together to establish a mutual recognition system sometime in the future.

Also disappointing is that the UK will be leaving the educational Erasmus programme, which benefits thousands of students, and particularly Maltese students, who often opt to undertake part of their studies in UK universities.

Moving forward, and considering the time constraints, the MBB augurs that the ratification process of the agreement goes as swiftly and smoothly as possible on both sides in the coming days. This way the EU can truly start building a good trading partnership with the UK, which will provide some stability, given the current volatilities in the global economy.

Finally, the MBB encourages the Maltese Government to evaluate how Malta can benefit from the Eur5 billion Brexit Adjustment Reserve that has been agreed by the European Council last July, and now presented by the European Commission, to help counter the adverse economic consequences of Brexit on Maltese companies and the Maltese economy.