The President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, William Spiteri Bailey, told Prime Minister Robert Abela and several ministers that "Malta deserves better growth" during a ministerial meeting scheduled to discuss the government's priorities over this legislature.

With the government renewing its mandate through the general election just under a couple months ago, the Malta Chamber of Commerce, the Prime Minister, and several other ministers convened to discuss the government's priorities for businesses in the country - and particularly, the country's economic model - at the Malta Chamber's building in Valletta on Monday afternoon.

Prime Minister Abela was accompanied, by seven other ministers from his Cabinet, namely Miriam Dalli, Glenn Bedingfield, Jonathan Attard, Clyde Caruana, Silvio Schembri, Jo Etienne Abela, and Keith Azzopardi Tanti. Mark Mallia was also present on behalf of the Office of the Prime Minister.

Spiteri Bailey listed eight main points during his speech to the Prime Minister and the ministers present. He mentioned the country's economic model, called for productivity to be made a national priority, appealed for the country to choose value over volume, before then talking about tourism, traffic, energy, governance and transparency, and Malta's long-term strategy (Vision 2050).

Spiteri Bailey said that the time has come for Malta to alter its measures for success, and not just through words. He listed that Malta must go "from quantity to quality; from volume to value; from more people to more productivity; from economic growth to growth that truly improves people's lives."

He said that while the Chamber is not saying that all is bad or well, Malta must take the next step, "from growth to quality growth," and that it has the entrepreneurs, talent, and strong economic sectors to do so.

The Malta Chamber President said that it is ready to work alongside lawmakers to build an economy "where businesses can invest and grow, where work generates more value, and where economic growth reaps its fruit to quality of life and real wellbeing. Because Malta deserves more than just growth, Malta deserves better growth." He said that this can be achieved should stakeholders work together, for the good of businesses, the general public, and the entire country.

Referencing Malta's economic model, Spiteri Bailey noted that "we cannot keep increasing people, cars, and pressure on our infrastructure and think that we can call this progress," observing that the country has increased its output significantly over many years.

"A country doesn't grow stronger because it has more people, but because each person can grow more value," he said, calling for a strategic shift.

Spiteri Bailey appealed for the country to invest in technology, artificial intelligence, automation, digitalisation, in the re-engineering process, in reskilling, and upskilling, to make productivity a national priority.

He also warned that if wages rise while productivity fails to increase at the same rate, then "we will be making our economy more expensive and less competitive."

His third appeal was for Malta to choose "value over volume," similar to other small countries. As examples, he referenced how Ireland invested in its education and added-value sectors, how Singapore opted for efficiency, excellence, and strong governance, and how Estonia invested heavily in digitalisation.

"We cannot compete in size, we must compete in terms of competitiveness," Spiteri Bailey said, "Now in how many people we have, but the talent available. not just on how much we produce, but on the value we create."

Bringing up tourism, Spiteri Bailey stated that while Malta has a lot to be proud of in this regard, "the goal should not lie in setting new records for tourist arrivals. The aim should lie in how much value each tourist is leaving in our country."

He recalled how more tourists leads to more congestion, waste, and pressure on infrastructure and residents in some localities across the Maltese islands, thus questioning the sustainability of the present approach to tourism.

Whilst we praised how tourism activity has increased in shoulder months, the Malta Chamber head questioned why major events still remain compressed in a span of a few weeks in the middle of summer.

Spiteri Bailey stated that "traffic is more than just an inconvenience" and that traffic must not be normalised. He noted how it affects the economy, leads to lost time for workers, as well as late deliveries, missed appointments, high costs, productivity losses, while negatively affecting human wellbeing. On this, he said that Malta must be courageous to take long-term decisions, rather than opt for temporary solutions.

The Malta Chamber President discussed the importance of having a robust, modern, reliable electric grid for the country to home in on digitalisation and modern technologies.

Noting the recent power cuts as "a wake-up call," Spiteri Bailey noted that "when a business experiences a power outage or suffers voltage issues, that doesn't just equate to lost hours. It can lose production, data, stock, clients, and income. In extreme cases, safety risks can arise as well."

"We cannot build tomorrow's economy with infrastructure that cannot handle today's demand," he said.

He continued that "competitiveness is a question of trust," which is in itself built through transparency, accountability, and functioning institutions, he said. Calling for strong governance and transparency, the Malta Chamber questioned why KM Malta Airlines hasn't yet published its financial accounts as an example that there lies room for improvement here.

Concluding with Vision 2050, Spiteri Bailey said that a vision mostly matters in its execution, as well as the choices made and the priorities selected.

He stated however that "we cannot talk about quality of life when people are losing hours in traffic. We cannot speak about innovation if the electric grid is unreliable. We cannot speak about competitiveness if productivity is not at the centre of our policies. And we cannot speak about wellbeing when people are frustrated with traffic, pressure on localities, and lacking services due to infrastructural strain."

Here, Spiteri Bailey called for the country to switch from prioritising economic growth in favour of "growth that truly improves people's lives."

'Together we must see how much we should open or restrict the flow of foreign workers,' Abela says

In response, the Prime Minister mentioned that together, government and stakeholders such as the Malta Chamber of Commerce must decide on the future direction of the Labour Migration Policy.

Noting that changes towards the inflow of foreign workers has not happened so gradually, Abela asked how much the government should tighten its Labour Migration Policy to reduce (or widen) the inflow of foreign workers entering the Maltese islands.

He mentioned this in relation to the country's strategic direction towards more digitalisation, noting that depending on technology means reducing dependence on human workers. Both parties acknowledged that taking this step would mean increasing the country's dependence on the electric grid, which has been facing distribution issues once again recently.

The Prime Minister noted that while the economic model must evolve, it must not change overnight. He also added that "we mustn't pull the handbrake" on Malta's development, and must continue sectoral investments to bolster, e.g., healthcare, energy, and sewage infrastructure.

He observed that Malta currently has one of the most solid economies in Europe, and that this should be seen as a positive standpoint to start this legislature rather than somehow being viewed as something negative. Here, PM Abela said that other European economies "are under intense pressure" as job creation levels are lower than they should be.

Vis-à-vis energy, Abela said that "we have done a lot of work" in the form of upgrading cables and adding new substations for better electricity distribution, though more work is still required. He also observed how "in 2024, 2025, and even this year, there were months when electricity was always provided."

Noting that more needs to be done here, he said that the financial means for investment was and remains in place.

Abela concluded that while the two sides will not agree on everything they discuss, they shall continue working under the obligation to help the Maltese islands progression continue. Here he referenced the importance of human wellbeing and in businesses being able to continue enjoying their prosperity.