In the past months, the world has been threading unchartered waters, in one of the toughest times of recent economic history.

Malta, being completely connected to the rest of the world, has been granted no reprieve. The challenges we faced over the past 36 months or so have been very different to other past challenges. They required a different skill, a different approach and a courageous attitude above all.

For the past months, the government has been striving to sustain our businesses with the appropriate boost to invest and generate jobs. In so doing the government has provided the economy with enough energy to weather the storm, way better than our neighbouring countries have done.

With this in mind the government has catered for this need through the Budget initiative MicroCREDIT which is intended to supply SMEs, especially micro enterprises, with the needed funding for their ventures. MicroCREDIT was originally announced as a budget measure for 2009. Discussion with the European Commission ensued shortly after, and as we all know today, MicroCREDIT is a €51 million injection into the economy which is being very well received by the operators of the field.

Starting off at €10 million, this fund was expanded to its present day value, giving a wider range of SMEs the opportunity to invest in new projects, and venture into new markets. Having said that, 20% of this fund still needs to make its way to Micro SMEs, employing less than nine people. This underlines the government’s commitment to this sector of the economy. I am informed that 90 businesses have already confirmed, and closed their deal with BOV for funding, as they will be investing €15 million into their ventures and subsequently the economy thanks to this scheme. Another 270 businesses are currently holding discussions with BOV, on the possibility of funding.

MicroCREDIT is not the only incentive the Government has come up with in the last months. MicroINVEST helps Micro enterprises carry out investment, by granting 40% or 60% of the investment in tax credit. Applications for this greatly successful scheme are up to 717, while 398 micro businesses have already been issued with their certificates which they will be able to redeem into a tax credit.

ERDF funding also plays a central role in offering opportunities for our small and medium enterprises. We are pleased to notice how extremely successful these schemes have been, as well as the highly innovative streak our entrepreneurs are displaying in using such funds.

All of the three calls, which are being administrated by Malta Enterprise, have a total the value of €42 million. Initially the total budget for all the schemes was €30 million, of which €10 million were for the Energy scheme and the rest for the six schemes under the “€20 million for industry” umbrella. These were later increased by €5 million and €7 million respectively, with 85% of the funds coming from the ERDF and the remaining 15 per cent being provided by the Government.

Internationalisation is also central to the government’s economic policy. I am informed that in the last days, a Malta Enterprise-led business delegation in Germany offered the opportunity for some 15 local enterpreneurs to meet with their piers in Dusseldorf and Berlin, in order to sound possible alleys of business. The Maltese participants had positive comments on the innumerable meetings held and shall now be following up on the leads and contacts established in an attempt to transform them into some fruitful collaboration. In Berlin, Malta Enterprise in conjunction with FinanceMalta also organised six separate FDI events to attract German investors to Malta with focus on industries such as financial services, aviation, clean technologies and pharma/biotech. The FDI events also went well and in general there was good interest in Malta and its offering.

This government’s commitment towards the generation of jobs has proved time and time again, the credentials of its economic policy. We want to give our entrepreneurs the confidence to invest, the confidence to venture into new projects, and be successful. The healthy take-up of Government’s initiatives and schemes, is a clear sign of our entrepreneur’s trust in the economy. In the last year 6,000 brand new jobs have been created, while Malta’s rate of unemployment has ranked as the 5th lowest in the European Union.

We believe our entrepreneurs hold the key to this country’s success. That is why we will keep on supplying our small and medium sized businesses with the necessary push to invest and be successful.

Dr Jason Azzopardi is parliamentary secretary in the Finance Ministry