€45 million in prospected FDI over next three years

Energy and enterprise minister Miriam Dalli has said Malta is expecting inflows of foreign direct investment of some €45.7 million within the next three years.

Speaking on a panel at the EY Future Realised annual conference, Dalli said Malta’s forecast of €45m in FDI was expected to generate at least 948 jobs up until 2024.

The forecast is based on provisional data from October 2021, with Malta Enteprise, the state’s FDI arm, having approved 26 new projects with an estimated investment of almost €20 million and the creation of over 500 for the next three years.

Malta Enteprise has already approved six major FDI expansions in 2021 alone, for a total investment of €27 million, that will create 442 jobs.

“We are roping in industry, in upskilling and reskilling, and attracting new talent to address Malta’s talent gap – we have €2 million budgeted for this. Sustainability is also about making sure that we retain the companies we have in Malta, to give them the right environment to expand, and to attract new investment,” Miriam Dalli told the EY Future Realised annual conference.

Dalli said Malta Enterprise had attracted as much FDI as possible throughout the COVID pandemic.

“With 950 jobs for the next three years, we need to make sure we have the talent to fill those jobs,” the minister said. “We made sure this Budget includes initiatives to focus on ESGs – environment, social, and governance criteria – with our own Maltese companies as well as for other private investors.”

Dalli said her experience with CEOs and other businesses was that companies in Malta wanted to get in line with ESGs that can retain talent and promote better business practices. “That is why we want to help businesses reinvest their profits in ESGs, in energy efficiency across manufacturing plants... that’s a win-win for both the private company and the government. Malta wants to help private companies reach targets for energy efficiency that puts less pressure on the national grid and for companies to lower their costs.”