Money raised through Malta’s Individual Investor Programme should be used to finance a holistic transport strategy that helps the country move towards having multiple modes of transport, the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has suggested.

In pre-Budget proposals presented to the government, the chamber also urged the government to strengthen Identity Malta to ensure it was better equipped to attract and recruit third-country nationals to work in the country, and called for work-based learning to be extended to all forms of secondary and tertiary education.

The chamber presented 30 key measures which it suggested for inclusion in Budget 2019, which is set to be unveiled by the government next week.

It said that Malta’s booming economy was a golden opportunity to invest in infrastructure and safeguard future sustainability.

The Budget should be planned on a multi-year timeframe, the chamber said, to ensure continuity and long-term planning.

It suggested that the government commission an independent entity to carry out a carrying capacity analysis which would involve Malta’s key economic and social stakeholders. This exercise should encompass economic, social and environmental impacts, it suggested.

The chamber is also pushing for the creation of a new national competitiveness agency “to ensure that the economy is not hampered by new and excessive regulations, measures and taxes”.