Robert Abela held a meeting at Castille with his predecessor Joseph Muscat to discuss economic issues this evening.

The meeting was first reported by Net News and can be confirmed by Lovin Malta. Also in on the meeting was Malta Enterprise CEO Kurt Farrugia, who used to be Muscat’s head of communications, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri, and the Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff Clyde Caruana.

Sources told Lovin Malta that this was not the first time Abela and Muscat met since the former was appointed Prime Minister last January.

Under Muscat’s seven-year tenure as Prime Minister, Malta’s economy grew at record rates while unemployment dropped to record lows, figures which are both expected to reverse in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, he was also plagued with corruption allegations and was forced to resign in January in the wake of a political crisis which saw his chief of staff Keith Schembri linked to the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.