Economic sentiment was now 10 per cent higher than when the current administration took power, with Malta on track to reach the EU's average GDP per capita within 10 years instead of 40, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning.

Speaking during an EY conference held at the Westin Dragonara, the Prime Minister said that at the rate Malta was growing in 2013, it would have taken two generations for the country to catch up with the EU average. That time period had now been slashed to just a decade, he said. 

READ: 4 out of 5 companies plan on being in Malta in a decade's time

Dr Muscat boasted of some of the administration's key achievements since 2013, ticking off lower energy tariffs, economic diversification and record employment rates, and noting they had been achieved without resorting to austerity measures. 

He acknowledged that Malta had an infrastructural deficit, telling his audience of business investors that resolving it was a government priority while saying that he did not want to play "Punch and Judy politics about who is to blame".

An EY report presented at the conference found that almost 80 per cent of business investors believe they will still have operations in Malta in 10 years' time. The report also found that more than half intend to invest locally within the coming year. 

But the report also found that investor confidence in Malta's political stability and transparency has fallen by 15 percentage points since 2015 - a finding the Prime Minister made no allusion to during his speech. 

Corruption "the elephant in the room" - Busuttil

The decline in confidence was highlighted by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil, who also addressed the EY audience. 

Dr Busuttil addressing the EY conference audience. Photo: Chris Sant FournierDr Busuttil addressing the EY conference audience. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Dr Busuttil argued that corruption was gnawing away at business confidence, calling it "the elephant in the room." 

He said rising public debt, poor-quality public spending and an increase in public sector employment were all worrying signs which could complicate matters in the future. 

The Opposition leader also argued that the time had come to integrate the environment into economic planning.

"We must change once and for all our idea that economic growth can only come at the expense of the environment - this is not a zero-sum game," he said. 

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