Describing the situation in the last months as “very demanding”, the CEO of Malta Enterprise explains that administering the bulk of the assistance being provided by Government has resulted in further responsibilities for its workforce.

“All employees at Malta Enterprise have been working very hard to ensure that we assist all businesses as fast as possible,” he says.

Revealing that employees have been going above and beyond their regular schedules and responsibilities, Mr Farrugia affirms that he is proud of their efforts, adding that “as a team we are committed to giving our utmost in assisting our entrepreneurs towards spearheading the regeneration of Malta’s economy.”

During the crisis, the CEO maintains that Malta Enterprise’s main objective was to ensure that companies operating from Malta remain afloat.

“We wanted to limit redundancies in order to ascertain that companies retain their human capital to be able to hit the ground running as soon as the right conditions present themselves,” he asserts, pointing out that this “slowdown period” was also ideal for companies to retrain their employees and revisit their operations.

However, this is not to say that the corporation let up on its efforts to attract new FDI to Malta.

“Although travelling had been halted, we still continued to meet virtually with a number of potential investors,” Mr Farrugia reveals, adding that since the airport reopened, Malta Enterprise has already started receiving the first ‘in person’ delegations in order to continue negotiations with investors and strategic partners.

“The preparedness showcased both by our health services and our business-support functions delivered results which were noticeable,” he continues, adding that this was highlighted by prospective investors.

Speaking of the local economy, the CEO asserts that its diversity ensures that whilst some sectors might be exposed to adverse shocks, others are actually going through a strong cycle.

“Malta’s economy provides a lot of strong linkages between sectors,” he continues, illustrating that while tourism may not appear closely associated with manufacturing, there actually exists a strong relationship in some activities.

“Over the years Malta has developed a strong aviation cluster which includes the maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) of aircrafts.

“The global anaemic tourism sector implies that most aircrafts are grounded and this results in limited demand for MRO services,” he explains, noting that on the other hand, Malta has a strong pharma and medical devices sector which, as a result of the pandemic, experienced a significant increase in demand for their products.

“The pandemic clearly highlights the importance of having a well-diversified economy,” he maintains, explaining that Malta Enterprise is actively working to attract new investment that further spurs diversification of the local economy.

Speaking of the long-term effects of the pandemic, Mr Farrugia says that the situation remains fluid.

“The Summer Economic Forecast published by the European Commission shows that in 2020 the Maltese economy will contract by 6 per cent and go on to grow by 6.3 per cent in 2021. Malta will be the only EU member state that will have fully recovered the contraction recorded in 2020,” he points out.

However, he goes on to highlight that some industries such as tourism in its wider sense will continue to struggle to reach the economic activity recorded in 2019. Referring to Government’s wage supplement and household vouchers schemes, the CEO explains that the objective is for these sectors to maintain their human resources until demand picks up.

Noting that an increase in domestic consumer confidence augurs well, he continues that “the fact that most Maltese probably will not be going abroad this year could also translate into additional local expenditure that in part will compensate for the loss experienced due to the anaemic tourism sector.”

Meanwhile, Malta Enterprise continues to play its part. “Apart from the COVID Wage Supplement we are also currently finalising the processes to be able to roll out the Rent Refund and Electricity Refund support schemes,” he concludes.

This is an extract of a feature first carried in the August edition of The Commercial Courier