Chamber of Commerce: good governance should not be race to the bottom

Good governance should be the order of the day, but public funds are not being used properly, the Chamber of Commerce has warned.

During a meeting with a delegation from the Nationalist Party led by leader Simon Busuttil, the Chamber’s president Anton Borg said that problems relating to good governance must be addressed.

The Chamber was being presented with the document piloted by PN MP Claudio Grech for the PN's economic vision.

“The Malta Chamber has already stated earlier this year that for far too long, successive governments from both sides of the political spectrum have condoned and indeed seemingly encouraged the squandering of public funds. It is worrying to read about a number of cases of abuse. It should never be a race to the bottom when it comes to governance, rule of law and standards but it should be a battle between the two sides of Parliament on which party can offer the best policies whilst upholding excellence and quality in everything it does,” Borg said.

Borg said it was positive for the party in Opposition to present its intentions for the economy well in advance of an electoral campaign. "This is encouraging insofar as investor confidence in the country is concerned as, businesses will know what to expect in the eventuality of a change in government,” Borg said.

Borg said that the Chamber also welcomed the fact that the document follows on the steps of the document published by the Malta Chamber ‘An Economic Vision for Malta 2014-2020’. “After all, the Chamber’s document was well received and unanimously endorsed by both Government and Opposition as well as the MCESD. It continues to serve as a strategic document for short to medium term economic strategy,” Borg said.

Borg reiterated the position of the Chamber that wealth is created by being more competitive, while politicians need to be careful to always keep in mind that wealth needs to be created before it is distributed. The President also noted how the document ‘An Economy for the people’, refrained from mentioning the issue of regional challenges Malta faces due to its geographic insularity.

Simon Busuttil said that he is pleased to present the document which in no way is carved in stone, but is a working document, which is open for suggestions. He acknowledged the fact that the document built on the Malta Chamber’s Economic Vision and said that once the wheel was invented there was no need to invent a new one. All needed was to make sure that this kept spinning efficiently.