The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry on Friday joined the growing

chorus that is calling for the government to implement the micro-credit scheme for small businesses announced in the last budget.

€10 million in funding for the scheme, aimed at assisting the business development of small and medium-size enterprises and the self-employed, is, according to Budget 2010, to be introduced this year.

At the time, the Chamber commended the initiative and anticipated its swift implementation, it recalled on Friday, as it called on the government to implement the scheme “without further delay”.

“The Malta Chamber stresses that this fund, aimed at providing SMEs with the necessary

liquidity for investment, is particularly important due to the economic downturn.

“Furthermore, as mentioned in the budget speech, should the demand justify the investment, the European Investment Bank would consider topping up the fund by a further €10 million.

“Up to now, there is no direct EIB funding for SMEs, with Maltese banks currently providing the funding for small companies. The Malta Chamber stresses that such an opportunity of additional funding is not one to be missed.”

The Chamber said it had been informed by the authorities that discussions with the EIB on the draft criteria for the selection of the financial intermediaries are currently underway, and it called on the government to “speed up the launch and implementation of this much needed scheme”.

Last week, the GRTU, Malta’s chamber for SMEs, made a similar call for the immediate implementation of the scheme, which would provide loans of up to €25,000 for small

businesses to help them cope with liquidity problems resulting from the recession.

“This scheme was top priority for the GRTU. The government should have adopted the scheme immediately in January, as agreed with GRTU, utilising first government funds and then switching to EU funds as these funds become available,” GRTU director-general Vince Farrugia said.

“Malta Enterprise has completely disregarded the pain currently being suffered by many small businesses and has lost valuable time in relieving the thousands of small business owners during tough recession times.

“It is incredible that, five months after budget day, the finance ministry is still giving silly excuses that convince no one as to why this most important scheme remains on the shelf. And now they talk about the end of summer. This is like giving our people an umbrella when the rainy season is over.”