Greatest Budget 2024 reassurance is that energy subsidies will remain as long as necessary – SME Chamber

The greatest reassurance of Budget 2024 is that energy subsidies will remain for as long as necessary, The Chamber of SMEs said in reaction to the Government’s Budget presentation for next year.

It did remark, however, that SMEs should have played “a more prominent role”.

The SME Chamber noted that there was no emphasis or new incentives on how to SMEs can be strengthened.

It praised the Government’s strategy to renew the economy by attracting growth from high-end sectors. Indeed, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said that the multi-million investment in STMicroelectronics, which was approved by the EU Commission, is one of the key measures that will lead Malta to develop more sustainable economic niches.

The investment will see the company upgrade their capabilities in the manufacturing of semiconductors and will see several spillover effects within the research and development industry. Minister Caruana said this project represents one of the government’s key investments in its bid to develop new value-adding economic niches.

He also announced that Malta Enterprise will be developing a centre of excellence in the field of semiconductors.

The SME Chamber described the effort to invest in such sectors as “important”.

“At the same time however we are forgetting the absolute majority of the businesses that contribute towards the Maltese economy. It is therefore more important to see that our country’s small and medium-sized businesses are incentivised to renew and modernise to be future proof.”

The SME Chamber said it will therefore continue to work to address this gap and give priority to Maltese SMEs.