Malta has climbed nine places in the World Bank’s Doing Business Report, up to 94^th place from 103^rd, but it is still in last place among European Union members.

Mentioning the report during an MCESD meeting in the presence of Social Dialogue Minister Helena Dalli this morning, Anthony Agius Decelis, the Commissioner for the Simplification and Reduction of Bureaucracy, highlighted Malta’s surge forward but did not mention the fact that Malta remains in last place among EU member states.

“Malta is doing well in terms of implementing initiatives to create a more business friendly atmosphere, evidence of which emerged from this year’s World Bank’s ‘Doing Business’ report,” he said.

The influential report is referred to by international investors when determining foreign direct investment locations. Malta places 94^th in what are known as economy rankings, with the topmost countries being the easiest places for doing business. Singapore is the best place to do business, followed by New Zealand and Hong Kong, while the first European country is Denmark, which is in fourth place.

Malta did worse than last year in certain areas. For instance, trading across borders saw Malta rank 43^rd, down from its initial 34^th place.

Lauding civil sector chief Mario Cutajar and Parliamentary Secretary Michael Falzon for their support to help reduce bureaucracy in the public service, Mr Agius Decelis said that reducing bureaucracy by at least 25% was one of the PL’s electoral pledges and the few initiatives which have been implemented up to now have already led to a significant improvement.

The commissioner said that nobody will invest in Malta if we drag our feet and we don’t tackle the problem of excessive bureaucracy and if investors see that they will not get a return on their investments, they won’t invest here.

“Therefore,” he said, “we are here to make things simpler for investors so that Malta attracts more investment”.

“Investors need to be assured that we are ready to give them their required support and not create obstacles,” he continued.

“We have created a structure whereby each ministry has a customer care unit to deal with the needs of individuals, implementing a bottom-up approach,” he added.

Citing the energy vouchers as an example of an already implemented initiative which helps reduce bureaucracy for citizens, he said that the removal of such vouchers, which labelled certain people with a socio economic background, was a step forward.

Now customers are having their energy bills reduced directly and not having to worry about losing their vouchers, Mr Agius Decelis highlighted.

He also said that students also benefitted after their stipends started to be deposited directly in their bank accounts. Besides, he added, a number of new e-government services were introduced.