The government is speeding up procedures and reducing bureaucracy for self-employed people and owners of small businesses because it believed that they should concentrate more on running their business, said Communications Minister Censu Galea on Thursday.
One measure to be introduced soon is that licences are to be issued within 10 days of application, he said, addressing the PN’s small enterprises movement.
The PN believed that the self-employed and small enterprises were the heart of the Maltese economy.
The government is analysing existing regulations to ensure that they are still valid in today’s circumstances, and they will change those rules that are outdated.
Addressing the same meeting, parliamentary secretary Edwin Vassallo said that what owners of small enterprises are facing today is not a lack of business, but competition that is a result of commercial
activity.
The government is committed to facing all the challenges that come its way, including those in the commercial sector. It has presented a tax-free budget that will generate more commercial activity, and has also taken initiatives in the education, environment and social sectors, he said.
Mr Vassallo said that, in total, businesses with fewer than 10 employees today employ 44,624 people.