New investment schemes aimed at assisting industry to the tune of €213 million (Lm90.15 million) between 2008 and 2013 were launched yesterday by Industry Minister Austin Gatt.
The new incentives were devised within the framework of the new Malta Enterprise Act approved by Parliament in October. The new incentives were wider and more focused than those which Malta used to give under the Business Promotion Act.
The incentives have now been approved by the European Commission. Paul Baldacchino, from Malta Enterprise, said the incentives cover research and development, SME development, enterprise support, investment aid and access to finance.
Sectors eligible for incentives were the manufacturing industry, research and development, software and development of ICT, eco innovation, innovative start ups and industrial services.
Dr Gatt said that some of the new incentives were focused on sectors on which Malta did not focus enough in the past such as innovation in the environmental industry and research and development. Assistance to the manufacturing and other industrial sectors was also being strengthened.
Dr Gatt said the government would be allocating €150 million (Lm64.4 million) up to 2013 in fiscal credit to encourage investment in manufacture and innovation. These included funds dedicated to schemes for the creation of jobs in Gozo.
There were also assistance schemes for small and medium enterprises amounting to €12.5 million (Lm5.37 million) in financial grants to fund investment in electronic business, innovation and assistance to create a new business. Some of these funds were financed by the EU.
The government, Dr Gatt said, also allocated €6.5 million (Lm2.79 million) for financial grants to help promote Maltese products in international markets and for the development of new markets for manufacture exported from Malta.
The government would also continue to give the necessary guarantees on loans needed for investment, loans at subsidised interest rates, subsidies on bank loans interest and assistance to hotels. The government's assistance to industry was also complemented with the financing of employee training.
The minister said such schemes were making Malta more attractive for investment.
Dr Gatt pointed out that, since 2004, Maltese industry created 10,000 new jobs for the Maltese, much more than the number of jobs lost because of the economic transition the country had gone through.
Economic global circumstances were constantly changing and the country had to grasp every opportunity to always be competitive. So a more flexible legal basis, which permitted the government to rapidly develop incentives according to the real needs of Maltese and foreign investors, had been required.