“Malta is in the process of launching its own development bank.” This was stated by Minister for Finance Edward Scicluna whilst addressing a Commonwealth Local Government Conference.

PRESS RELEASE BY THE MINISTRY FOR FINANCE

He stressed that this bank would address market failures where, because of ever increasing regulatory restrictions, commercial banks were more risk averse towards businesses. He spoke of incentives which resulted in the increasing participation of women in the employment sector. He said that Malta wanted to hit hard the relative obstacles which rendered the country at the bottom where female participation is concerned. Amongst these incentives he mentioned tax breaks, free childcare, and the tapering of social benefits.

Minister Scicluna said that Malta, together with other countries, contributes towards numerous   projects around the world,  as in the case of Sub-Saharan Africa.

When talking about Malta’s role in the migratory issue, he stressed that Malta’s emphasis is primarily on development.

Regarding local councils in Malta, Minister Scicluna said that in Malta the Government can decentralise very little when one takes into consideration that our small country is fragmented into 68 smallish  local councils, with the result that they suffer from a lack of economies of scale in contrast with larger countries.

Wednesday 22nd November 2017