Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1244430
07.05.2020 7 INTERVIEW and shall intervene further if there is the need. On the other side of the coin, it is also true that the Covid-19 wage supplement scheme has saved thousands of jobs. We are doing our utmost to take decisions that truly reflect the disturbance experi- enced by our businesses. What are the biggest challenges SMEs are facing at the moment? Businesses are looking forward to bring their operation back to the norm and start opening up for business. is week government has announced the re-opening of certain services. Our as- sistance will still be available to those businesses that have been allowed to re- open their shops and outlets. As prom- ised, we will continue to be of support as we have been these last two months and the financial aid will not stop abruptly but will be tapered in order to alleviate the shock experienced by businesses. We are fully aware that some businesses will take much longer than others to recover. Which sectors have been worst hit by the measures? ose sectors that rely closely on con- tact with their customers. Undoubtedly, here we have sectors such as but not lim- ited to tourism in its broad sense (includ- ing hotels, private accommodation, res- taurants, bars, tour operators, transport companies, airlines, etc.), wholesale and retail trade (whilst people would still buy necessities such as food and beverage, other operators such as clothes shops were closed down and now that they have re-opened, they will still experience an anemic demand), administrative and support services, and transportation and storage would be the main categories. e most hard-hit sectors in fact are also listed under annexes published to- gether with the wage supplement. ese annexes were also updated following the feedback received from businesses and self-employed. Sectors that fall outside of these Annexes still have the opportu- nity to make their case as well as these are being evaluated on a case by case ba- sis. is also shows the level of person- alized attention that Malta Enterprise is offering to the business community. What do you envisage the financial cost to SMEs to be during this crisis? e major financial cost, that of paying employees' wages when the income is low, has been taken up by the Govern- ment through the wage supplement. is assistance is costing the government €50 million a month. Businesses can use their finances to invest in innovation and strategies that can help them recharge to start achieving growth again. In these challenging times the scope is much wider than simply carrying out an accounting exercise. Whilst, we need to be prudent in our cost outlay we need to ensure that companies remain afloat. e prudence adopted by Government in the previous years and the accumulat- ed budget surpluses enabled us to enter this pandemic on a strong financial foot- hold. For how long do you think SMEs can survive under these current conditions? e resilience of SMEs will depend on multifold factors. e answer is not clear cut as here we are referring to SMEs that are operating in different sectors. A re- cent survey carried out by the Chamber of Commerce shows that two to three months from now seems to be the break- ing point for most of the respondents. e theme should not be solely how to survive but rather how this time can be used to prepare for the future business world. Normality will not be the normal- ity we all knew but rather it would be an environment where fast adaptability to the changes taking place will be the key to survive. As Malta Enterprise we will continue to assists as best we can all those SMEs that are going through this difficult time. Our success is also related to the success of the SMEs that we assist on a daily basis. We all have the same objective. Which sectors of SMEs do you think will find it hardest to get back on track once the measures are gradually phased out? Together with other stakeholders we are working on a restart strategy to help businesses back on track. e wage supplement will still continue to be disbursed to the employees and will not stop abruptly but will be phased out slowly. Certain sectors such as tourism in its broad sense will be probably amongst the last to recover. Malta is heavily reliant on this sector so the prolonged drag that this sector will experience will also cur- tail our recovery. Malta in 2019 received nearly 2.8 million tourists and our pop- ulation is slightly less than 0.5 million. is clearly gives a magnitude of what we are speaking about and the wide-ranging impact on various economic sectors that an anemic tourism sector will have on the rest of the economy. What we want to do is to continue to provide support to these sectors and that at the same time we ensure that they are set in motion again in a responsible man- ner. A clear balance needs to be found between economic and health interests. We want to see the long term success of our economy too. e decisions are very difficult to call. Do you open up tourism very soon and risk another spike in Covid-19 cases which could also cause other economic sectors to stall again? Do you open up for tourists coming from what will be 'safe' countries? Can technology have an im- portant role in opening up our tourism sector again? Do you leave an imposed quarantine on all those entering Malta? You will appreciate that each of these questions has various dimensions. At the moment it is crucial to assess on a daily basis developments taking place not only in Malta but also internationally to make the most informed decisions possible. Foreign direct investment has suffered amid the coronavirus outbreak. How is ME planning to reestablish contact with interested foreign parties once the measures are lifted? During this period Malta Enterprise kept constant contact with the FDI com- munity in Malta. e assistance availa- ble has helped to ease the burden and to keep employees on their books. When it comes to interest from poten- tial investors this is truly alive and well. Our foreign investment promotion team has been actively holding webinars, on- line one-to-one meetings and discus- sions with clients who are still keen to go ahead with their plans to start up in Malta. Interestingly enough, we are still carrying out virtual business delegations. ese can never replace fully the face to face meetings that we organize for inves- tors with various entities whilst in Malta. However, they are playing an important role to ensure that investors would have already understood clearly what Malta has to offer. e sound approach that Malta has showcased in these trying times ascer- tains our claim of being a professional, trustworthy and organised jurisdiction that can respond effectively to new chal- lenges. In recent days, we also had interna- tional companies from outside the EU contacting us because they are interest- ed in investing in Europe and they are considering Malta as their springboard to Europe. e personalized approach that we offer to investors during these challenging times has definitely made us stand out from our competitors. is makes us hope that our economic recovery will be in the form of a healthy rebound as long as we continue handling things as we are. organised jurisdiction' Our eyes are set on what we can achieve in this downtime rather than what will be lost. In spite of the global crisis we are in, there are opportunities on which we want to capitalise