The Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has appealed to the government to give a “firm reply” on whether it will relaunch the permanent residency scheme and when it will happen.

The scheme, which extended incentives to foreigners to rent or buy property in Malta, was suspended in December because of what the Finance ­Ministry described as “a level of incorrectness and abuse of the system”.

Since then, the Chamber demanded its swift reinstatement but seven months passed and “despite various assurances, the new schemes have not been implemented”.

“We now risk not having the new schemes in place until after Parliament resumes after the summer recess. This is very damaging to the country’s economy and its reputation with international investors,” it said.

Malta, which depended on international links and inflows of business and investment, could not afford to compromise its reputation.

The “unilateral decision” to suspend the whole scheme leaving all stakeholders in a state of limbo “is unacceptable and is causing significant economic damage,” the Chamber said.

The Maltese economy had no choice but to “adopt an export oriented approach” to generate foreign income.

“Unfortunately, this approach seems to not have been taken up by the authorities. Export-oriented initiatives that boost the economy, such as the permanent residency scheme, have been suspended without warning,” it said.

To add insult to injury, ­excessive delays in its revision and reinstatement were causing hardships and loss of business across a number of sectors.

Over the past months, the Chamber said it had been in contact with the authorities to assist in the proposed review of the scheme but without achieving the desired results.