Robert Abela accuses Bernard Grech of wanting Malta FATF greylisting

Prime Minister Robert Abela has accused Opposition leader Bernard Grech of wanting Malta to be greylisted in a letter to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) pledging that a Nationalist Government would restore Malta’s international reputation on the issue.

During an interview on the Labour-owned ONE Radio, Abela said he was disappointed not only with the content of Grech's letter to the FATF, but also of its strategic timing, with a final decision on Malta's greylisting expected next week.

"When did he decide to send this letter? At the most sensitive and crucial time right before the final decision," he exclaimed.

In his letter to the FATF, Grech said that the political responsibility for a potential greylisting "falls squarely on the Labour government", while accusing Robert Abela of treating Moneyval and the FATF requirements as a box-ticking exercise.

Abela did not take this lightly. In turn, the PM accused Grech of inviting the FATF to put Malta on its financial greylist. "The worst thing you can do in this situation is go without a united voice."

Senior government members are fearing that Malta will be pushed for a greylisting by the FATF in this week's plenary session, especially by the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany.

This could make Malta the EU's first ever member state to be put in the list, while putting the local financial services sectors under heavy scrutiny.

READ ALSO: Malta pushed for grey-list despite higher compliance

Apart from the FATF greylisting, Abela discussed the stamp duty reduction scheme put forward during the pandemic to help boost property sales.

As part of the economic recovery package announced in June, government reduced the stamp duty for buyers and sellers on promise of sale agreements entered into this year for contracts that had to be concluded by March 2021. It has since been extended on all promise-of-sale agreements signed until December this year.

Abela admitted that it was industry stakeholders themselves who proposed this scheme to government, and government wholly took it on board.

Referring to a study by the Malta Developers' Association (MDA), Abela said that property prices did not increase throughout the pandemic, but rather saw a marginal decrease of 0.1%.

The discussion segued onto the construction industry, with Abela revealing that government is toying with the idea of implementing energy performance certificates by which properties can be graded based on energy efficiency.

Early school-leaving issue will be addressed, PM pledges

Briefly discussing education in Malta, Abela said that as part of Malta's 10-year economic strategy, government will be addressing Malta's early school leavers issue while promoting the concept of lifelong learning. 

Early school leavers are those with a lower secondary level of education and who are no longer in education or training. In Malta, roughly 16.3% of all students are early school leavers.

Abela said government invested €2.75 million in apprenticeships over a two-year period, allowing students the exposure needed to gain experience in the workplace.