Government willing to extend assistance to mitigate utility tariffs

The government is willing to consider extending the support it gives manufacturing industry to other commercial sectors that were or would be facing serious difficulties as a result of the utility tariff increases, the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise said.

It said in a statement that following the latest tariff revision last December, the chamber had been engaged in intensive discussions with the government with a view to agreeing on solutions that would mitigate the negative impact on the competitiveness and viability of its members.

The discussions included several meetings with Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, the Malta Resources Authority and Malta Enterprise, besides the chamber’s representations at the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development.

President Helga Ellul told members that the chamber agreed that such assistance would be channelled through the existing task force mechanism, in line with the existing framework that was successful since it was set up early last year.

It was also agreed that all assistance would be granted subject to the necessary evaluation process as had been the case with the manufacturing industry in 2009.

The chamber said this was an important development which would continue to help protect jobs, investment and future growth.

The chamber said it would continue to engage with the authorities on a technical and administrative level for the implementation of other mitigating measures, including the extension of the night-tariffs scheme.

It urged the government to open a structured and holistic dialogue on the sustainability of energy generation in Malta. The competitiveness of the business community had to be safeguarded if the private sector was to continue contributing to Malta’s prosperity by investing and creating more jobs, the chamber said.