The Chamber of SMEs has called on the government to save tens of thousands of jobs currently at risk, Chamber of SMEs CEO Abigail Mamo told The Malta Independent.

Speaking with this newsroom, Mamo highlighted how the government’s “ifs and buts” attitude is going to have a detrimental effect, and that right now, businesses are still carrying all the weight of the economic situation that the country is in.

She noted positively that parts of the government seems to now be open to offering new support and consider better measures that “reflect the real needs of the main operators of the economy – businesses and employees.”

She said that if the government has €800 per month to give to people losing their jobs, then it has the same amount to help people remain employed. It becomes increasingly harder for people who are unemployed to re-enter the job market as time goes on, she said. In addition, it is harder on the mental health of people who have lost their jobs to go through these trying times, than for those who have jobs, she added. “Employees are very concerned that their jobs could be lost any moment, and that uncertainty needs to be addressed.”

On the other hand staying in work will guarantee more income to the employees which will have the government subsidy topped up, Mamo explained. “Having businesses functioning will also mean that businesses will be ready to hit the ground running at the first opportunity, as well as putting them in a position to come up with new products and services that might be required.”

Mamo said that the government has been using ‘ifs and buts’ asking employers to guarantee with such measures that no jobs will be lost. “That is not the right attitude. If we can save 900 out of a thousand jobs then lets save them.”

“We want to make it clear that we appreciate that we have a new government that is faced with this impossible situation.  We understand it, and see that other countries goalposts are constantly changing. Week on week other governments are upping up their response.”

The situation is developing fast and being immediately responsive is essential, she said. At the moment Malta is late on implementing the right measures and needs to catch up fast and confirming the bare minimum as a start. We also expect to continue discussions as the situation develops further, she added.

Mamo said that the government did not get it right with the first set of measures implemented, nor with the second, “and I very much hope to  be third time lucky, but it is extremely important that we continue working together to respond to new realities.”

“The measures we are asking for include other things. One such thing is rent pressure.” She said that many landlords at the moment are being very understanding of the situation, and understand that businesses won’t be in a position to pay rent at the moment, so are postponing it for two or so months as right now they would not be able to re-rent that property and would rather have someone inside taking care of it. “But at the same time, we have small businesses that cannot exert the same amount of pressure as big business, so we are looking into support from the government on this as well. What is for sure is that most businesses are prioritizing retaining employees rather than paying rents right now.”

Turning to banks, she said that some have already signalled how they can help in the current situations. She said that some banks communicated their availability to issue a moratorium on loan repayments, but, she explained, that a more blanket across the bank sector approach is needed, where both businesses and public have blanket moratoria, as employers would struggle to help employees out at the moment.

Another issue, she said, is that ARMS is putting pressure on people to pay their electricity bills fast and threatens to suspend service. “We need to realise that such payments need to be suspended, and that everyone should be pulling the same rope.”

We are sure that all these players realise the seriousness of the situation at hand and the key role they play in supporting businesses in the coming crucial months.

“What we are asking for is the very basic that we can, and we cannot go lower than this right now.”

She said that layoffs have already started. “We are not realising how alarming the situation is. Every day lost is bad, measures are needed right now, not later.”

“We feel that the government is making pressure to save the future economy, but without imminent needed measures, the present one is collapsing.”

She said that in the Netherlands, the government is paying 75% of wages up to €3,000 per month for the next three months.

“We need to solve the problems we have now, or there will be permanent damage.”

She said that the easiest thing for businesses to do right now would be to shut down and live on whatever they have to sustain themselves alone. But businesses do not want to do that, want to keep their employees in a job.”

We are calling for a message of hope and confidence from government that will be with us through thick and thin. That is how we will come out of this situation fastest.