Silvan Mifsud:
'Each person in
the economy
needs to be able
to produce more'
6
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 25 OCTOBER 2026
INTERVIEW
SILVAN Mifsud believes in-
centives associated with pas-
sive investment such as prop-
erty are much more attractive
than those for productive
business investment.
And in his view, this is one
of several hurdles impacting
Malta's productivity, and in
turn, encouraging economic
growth fuelled by larger vol-
umes of workers.
The vice president of the
Chamber of Commerce, re-
jects the notion that it is too
late for Malta's economy to
change course and diversify
into the more productive use
of capital.
As we sit down for this inter-
view at the chamber's Vallet-
ta headquarters, I ask Mifsud
about the organisation's ar-
gument against increasing the
number of foreign workers
despite businesses' demands
for more workers. Mifsud is
unfazed by the question. He
explains the chamber's role
is to tie the interests of busi-
nesses with that of the overall
common interest of the coun-
try.
On Malta's energy subsi-
dies, he explains that the way
forward to eliminate any de-
pendency on the subsidies
involves using subsidies most
when they are absolutely nec-
essary.
This, he adds, means keep-
ing subsidies as they are when
fuel prices skyrocket while di-
verting those funds toward re-
newable energy sources when
fuel prices return to normal.
Silvan Mifsud is among a growing
choir of people, who believe the
change to Malta's economic
model boils down to one word—
productivity. A few days before
Budget 2027, the Chamber of
Commerce vice president tells
Matthew Farrugia what needs to
be done to incentivise productivity
