Retail hubs, fiscal incentives for employing trained staff in new PN small business strategy

The regeneration of property into retail hubs and incentives to urge small businesses to employ additional staff are among a number of policies the Nationalist Party will be announcing today in a document aimed at promoting small business, MaltaToday has learnt.

Shadow economy minister Claudio Grech, who drew up the policies, told MaltaToday in a briefing on Saturday that the party will be presenting 51 policies under three major sections: make small businesses more efficient, increasing market share and improving existing retail spaces.

The PN will be proposing that grants and fiscal incentives be introduced for the development of low-intensity retail districts, subject to a number of conditions that the developer and the tenants would have to adhere to.

Chief among these would be an emphasis on sustainable development and accessibility, with the development being retail-led and not including any residential units whatsoever.

Grech said that the policy would also promote artisan and indigenous craft and would insist that these retail hubs offer recreational spaces and facilities to supplement the retail business and offer an attractive destination for families.

He said that one incentive being offered would be to have a portion of the VAT collected from the hubs re-invested by the government in improvements and facilities at the same development.

The developers would in return have to accept a number of conditions, including providing child-care facilities at each of the retail hubs.

Grech explained that this same policy would also apply in the case of existing commercial districts in busy town centres such as Fgura, Hamrun or Birkirkara.

In these cases, incentives would be offered for the improvement and regeneration of the existing shops willing to invest in a bid to improve their facilities and help in the embellishment of the area.

“This embellishment can take many forms,” Grech said. “It could be a consensus by shops in a street to streamline the outlets’ facades and displays, maybe giving them a more artisan look and feel, or it could be something as simple as the shops agreeing to each install and look after one potted plant in front of their shops.”

Another policy – which the party was referring to as the ‘Plus One Initiative’ – includes provisions for government grants and fiscal incentives for small business owners to sign on their first employee or to add one employee to their existing staff, Grech said.

He said that the policy made it clear that the grants and incentives would only be granted in the case of businesses that employed individuals already trained in retail.

“This policy will improve the quality of life of the retailers, ending with them having more free time, while at the same time will it will also help tackle the issue of precarious employment, as employers would be incentivised to offer regular full-time employment.”