PN pledges €40m fund to aid manufacturers

A Nationalist government would set up a €40 million national fund in order to assist local businesses and industries to deal with the “constantly rising export expenses.”

The fund, together with 4 other proposals aimed at improving the logistical and financial burdens on the local industry, were announced at a press conference on Friday morning.

“Due to the connectivity handicap Malta has in being surrounded by sea, Maltese exporters cannot compete with their European counterparts in other countries because of the added expenses tied with the exporting of goods. This should not be a limiting factor,” PN MP Jason Azzopardi said.

“The current export costs this year stand at around €30 to €40 million and the fund would cover this expense. In 2012, the cost was that of around €20 million. Since 2012, the expense paid by the manufacturer has more than doubled,” Azzopardi continued.

In order to further make his point, Azzopardi made use of statistics from other countries, comparing the percentage of expenses spent on transport.

In Belgium, a total of 2% of manufacturers’ expenses are spent on transportation, in Italy manufacturers spend 6% of their total expenses on transportation. “In Malta, our manufacturers are in a situation were they have to spend 20% of their total expenses in order to transport their products to other countries,” Azzopardi said.

Azzopardi also said that this is a very important issue which needs to be addressed immediately. “When I asked Minister Miriam Dalli about the matter back in July, she said that there are no concrete plans in this regard,” he continued.

According to statistics by the World Bank, which ranks countries according to the expenses needed to export goods, since 2012, Malta has gone from 43rd in the world all the way down to 69th.

“In other words, the World Bank statistic is a ruler to compare one country to another and since 2012, Malta has suffered greatly in this regard.”

Azzopardi said that, when compared to countries like Germany, Malta is nowhere near consistent when it comes to the score given. “Since 2012 there was a constant decline in rating,” Azzopardi said.

Azzopardi claimed that, “without certain expenses the GDP in Malta would increase by 10%. It is therefore astonishing as to why the government would do nothing about it.”

Due to this reason, the PN is calling upon the government to act and make its case to the European Commission in order to amend the EU state aid laws for Malta to be able to help the local industry.

“We have a case, and we are confident that we will prevail. This is a case in favour of Malta, in favour of local manufacturers, in favour of employees and in favour of our economy.”