Chamber of Commerce president tells the Prime Minister: “Malta’s international reputation has suffered”

With some of the worst offenders in the audience – cabinet ministers Manuel Mallia, Edward Zammit Lewis, Christian Cardona and the Prime Minister himself – Anton Borg, president of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, sounded a warning on Monday that businesses operating in Malta are concerned about “the issues of good governance that we are allowing to constantly persist”.

He pointed to the fact that EY Malta’s most recent Attractiveness Survey has reported a 15-percentage point drop from the previous year in perception of the stability and transparency of Malta’s political, legal and regulatory environment. Mr Borg also spoke with concern about how Malta has plunged ten places to its lowest ever ranking in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index, in the space of just a year.

Addressing the Prime Minister directly, the Chamber of Commerce president said: “Malta’s business community expects to operate in an environment where certain situations are not allowed to exist. Malta’s international reputation has suffered, and so could our future economic success if there are any repercussions on the country’s financial services and remote gaming sectors, which collectively contribute to around one quarter of Malta’s GDP. Malta needs stability, and confidence in the rule of law.”