The Nationalist Party called on the government to take immediate action to get Malta off the Financial Action Task Forces' (FATF) grey list, saying that to date, the situation has not been taken seriously.

During a press conference on Wednesday, in which the party spoke about the grey listing and its impact on a number of sectors, the party strongly urged the government to take action and get Malta off the grey list as soon as possible. 

Nationalist candidate Paula Mifsud Bonnici said that "Robert Abela and his government are in no rush to get Malta off the grey list. It seems that Robert Abela does not want to make the tough and serious decisions that are necessary in moving forward and placing Malta back on the white list."

Mifsud Bonnici added that "Robert Abela wants these decisions to be postponed until after the general election so as to avoid hurting those people who will be affected by the grey listing."

She said that on top of the government's inaction, "every day that Edward Zammit Lewis is kept as a minister, is another day further away from Malta being removed from the grey list."

"He created a culture of impunity - the same culture which led to the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia."

Failure to act on the removal of Edward Zammit Lewis, means that this government does not want to take any concrete action on moving forward and regaining Malta's reputation," Mifsud Bonnici said.

Meanwhile, PN candidate Alex Perici Calascione said that financial service operators are concerned as they are seeing a slowdown in interest coming from foreign investment. Malta has been accustomed to positive foreign investment for a number of years.

Perici Calascione made reference to a survey conducted by Newsbook, which revealed that an overwhelming majority - 60%, said they are concerned with Malta's grey listing.

"This concern stemmed from the financial sector but over time, we have seen this concern growing and spreading to other sectors in Malta. Therefore, this concern requires immediate action and needs to be taken seriously," Perici Calascione said.

He added that "although the government has set out a number of plans to get Malta off the grey list, no concrete action is being done - just words."

Perici Calascione emphasised that since this a national issue, a national strategy is required.

For his part, President of the PN's administrative council Graham Bencini said that everyone is suffering from this grey listing. He presented a number of specific issues and examples which shed light on the negative impact which some sectors are facing, including longer banking processes as well a higher costs for companies.