With a population nearing 600,000, Malta's population density is now 1,720 people per square kilometre, up from 1,360 just 10 years ago, with all the negative effects that this may have on the quality of life and general well-being of society at large.

The focus of our politicians should be to create quality jobs for the population. However, the current economic model is to create as many jobs as possible resulting in the import of thousands of foreigners at the cost of the well-being of the Maltese families and workers. The growth of our economy has now moved into dependency on a higher number of workers to continue to grow.

Between 2012 and 2022 the EU's population rose by 1.4% with inward migration being the main driver of this population growth, whereas in Malta the population rose by 24.8%, the highest rate in the EU.

While the average rate of growth in the population up to year 2021 was circa 10,000 to 11,000 per annum, in the year 2022, the rate of growth was circa 22,000, with the bulk of these being third-country nationals. Interesting to note is a point made by one of the members of the MCESD - that assuming current productivity rates and the government's forecast for year 2025, an additional population increase of 56,000 over 2022 is required to reach government targets. This all points towards a situation in which, unless serious corrective measures are taken, we may face a collapse in our infrastructure, health and other sectors.  

Malta is in need of a new economic model, where economic growth is not driven by the increase in population numbers. The budget has to address such issues and consider a number of proposals to decrease the number of foreign workers and to increase productivity. We need to gradually shift the economy towards higher value added and less labour-intensive operations. This needs to be a slow process so as to avoid hefty shocks to the economy.

Tax incentives should be given to encourage more inactive people within our population to enter the labour market.   Give more incentives to part-time and over time work to make work pay and incentivize people to move from social dependency to active workers.   Remove obstacles for pensioners who wish to work to do so. 

I am meeting more and more young Maltese families who are highly qualified but are leaving Malta because they have given up on being able to have the quality of life they aspire to.  They cite that Malta has become claustrophobic and we are losing our beauty, town and open spaces.  This has a serious negative economic and social impact as Malta loses highly trained individuals who we have invested heavily in through our education system. In addition their children will very likely never return to Malta unless some big changes do take place.

This is further worse when considering the low fertility rate we have.  We need to rethink Malta, take the bold decisions necessary to change the course of our economy and its development and create the reason for these people to stay. Therefore, tax incentives have to be considered both to entice those Maltese who have left Malta and are working abroad and also to encourage locals who work in certain sectors and in which we are losing the trained locals to be encouraged to continue working in Malta.

Government measures and incentives should be aimed at improving productivity so that the economy can continue growing without the need for an increase in workers.

Significant improvements in the education system are required. The government, academia and businesses must work together to make sure that the education system is meeting the needs of the industry and the vision for a high value added workforce.

We also need to improve drastically Malta's image internationally. Malta is now rated as one of the least attractive places to work and live in. This is a far cry from a number of years ago where Malta was seen as one of the preferred locations to work in. The reasons for this are quite obvious and for everyone to see. This fact has an impact on the skills of the workforce, Malta is able to attract.

An independent audit of the public sector employment needs to be carried out.  Unnecessary duplication of processes and over-staffing have to be identified and tackled accordingly.

This Government needs to pass from words to actions. Several reports and strategies have been issued in the past but to date there has been no change in the current economic model. A change to this model is absolutely necessary.

Ralph Puli is an accountant and financial consultant