Malta is already suffering financial repercussions as the Financial Action Task Force’s decision to grey-list the country, PN MP Mario De Marco said on Monday. 

Although the FATF found Malta to be technically compliant with regards to laws concerning the matter, it found that Malta lacked in the ‘effective implementation’ department as the organisation was not convinced that the Maltese government had the necessary will to truly act with regards to the laws that were implemented. 

De Marco stated that such repercussion can already be seen in how the UK has added Malta to their list of countries which are at risk of money laundering and how Phoenix Malta has closed its doors after such a result. 

Quoting an EY survey, regarding Malta’s attractiveness for direct foreign investment, De Marco noted that there was a drastic decline in willingness to invest as from the 77% present in 2019, presently it is at 37%. 

Referring to a report carried out internally by the Malta Employers Association, De Marco stated that 88% of its members believe that the grey listing decision will have a negative impact on their business. 

Speaking about Malta’s financial situation, De Marco insisted that in 2020 Malta had the highest deficit out of all European countries, hitting almost 10%, remarking that this year it had hit 11%. 

Mentioning public debt, he stated that in total in 2019 the total amounted to 5.3 billion euros and is estimated that by the year 2024 this will double in amount. Speaking on behalf of the PN, De Marco stated that given that every expenditure made in aiding employees and keeping the job market stable is acceptable, they condemn every bill paid which does not help in stabilising the economy. 

Quoting Finance Minister Clyde Caruana regarding Covid related costs, which amounted to 1.5 billion euros between 2020 and 2021, De Marco remarked that the deficit that was reached in the same span was 3 billion euros. 

The PN’s economic vision which was discussed during the estimates debate of the Ministry for Finance is based on 3 pillars, which are human resources, good governance and sustainability. 

PN MP Kristy Debono who also addressed the press conference, stated that the government did nothing to honour the economic development that was mentioned during their budget.

She remarked that Malta needs to firstly clean its reputation, as Malta is losing local talent resulting in skill gaps because they want to live in another European country. Debono remarked that although this is a new budget there was no mention of a new sector which will be developed, such as Fintech and AI, which are innovative sectors. Lastly, she mentioned that Malta needs to update its banking plan and search for o as it is becoming increasingly difficult for customers to even open a simple account. 

PN MP Jason Azzopardi who was the last from the panel to speak, remarked that the PN has sought to propose 40 million euros which companies who import and export merchandise would be benefitting from, making it possible for them to compete with other countries such as Africa, Italy and Belgium.