The MEA argued that the government would be better off filling certain vacancies with people who are unemployed and who could be trained to be able to carry them out. 

Other recommendations aimed at ensuring a healthy labour supply in the country included the phasing out of the Community Work Scheme, reviewing the process for third country nationals to obtain a work permit, more incentives for those working beyond the pensionable age as well as “utilising” better the population of asylum seekers and refugees currently in Malta and seeking employment. 

The MEA stressed that the future of the Maltese economy depended on the management of its human resources, insisting that the budget plan for this appropriately. 

It made a number of recommendations in this regard, including the increased use of automated systems in certain jobs. “Why do we still have meter readers when we are supposed to have automated smart meters?”

The MEA acknowledged that it was difficult to forecast government expenditure and revenue in 2021 given the uncertainty linked to both the COVID-19 pandemic and Malta’s greylisting by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). 

Both the government’s vaccine rollout and its pandemic fiscal support measures were applauded by the MEA and credited with keeping several businesses running. 

As for Malta’s greylisting, it pointed to the overwhelming belief that this will lead to negative effects on the Maltese economy, stressing that what the country needed now was to take corruption cases seriously. 

“If a politician, through their actions, increases the risk of Malta remaining in the FATF grey list by just 1% and this incurs the probability of affecting the least of our members by 1% of his business, then that politician should either resign or be removed,” the MEA said. 

What businesses desire, the MEA said, was to compete in an environment that offered a level playing field, with most “resenting the link between business and politics”. 

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