Malta could become a victim of its own success if it stopped investing in its future workforce and allowed foreign workers to take over the financial services sector, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

This is not the time for us to take reforms slowly

Addressing a business breakfast for social partners and other major economic players, Dr Gonzi warned that if the financial services sector became too dependent on foreign employees, wage costs would increase.

This would lead to “trouble”, said Dr Gonzi, because it would weaken Malta’s competitiveness in the sector.

He said this was one of the reasons stipends were so important and he urged teachers, employers and unions to welcome reforms like the use of tablet computers in the classroom.

“We do not have time to waste... This is not the time for us to take reforms slowly,” he said, highlighting the rapid global technological advances under way.

Dr Gonzi also warned that although the financial services sector was doing very well, the economy could not move forward without having value-added manufacturing.

Listing a number of PN electoral proposals, Dr Gonzi said the creation of 25,000 new jobs over the course of the coming legislature was the main thrust of the party’s programme.

He urged the social partners not to forget the lessons learnt over the past five years, two of which proved to be “disastrous” for the global economy. Dr Gonzi urged employers to consider the PN’s proposal to allow parents to use their sick leave when their children fell ill. Acknowledging there was resistance to this, he told employers that the final aim – that of bringing more women into the workforce – should be welcomed by all.

On the interconnector, which will link Malta with the European electricity grid, Dr Gonzi said this was “not an idea, this is being built as we speak”, after Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association president Tony Zahra appealed for energy to be treated as a national issue rather than a partisan one.