[WATCH] 'Drastic action needed to facilitate businesses setting up shop' – Muscat

Prime Minister pledges to improve 'prehistoric' online public services

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat called for “drastic and urgent action” to facilitate businesses setting up shop in Malta, in light of a damning World Bank report.

The latest ‘Ease of Doing Business’ report ranked Malta 132nd out of 189 countries in terms of how difficult it is for people starting a business on the island, a lower position than any other European country.

Addressing a conference on practices within the public sector at the Mediterranean Conference Centre, a stern Muscat said that he had issues about the methodology used to collate the data but that the public sector had to up its game regardless.

“The ranking is unacceptable and inexplicable, and contrasts sharply with our country’s recent economic growth,” he said. “For me, the report is the straw that broke the camel’s back and radical action is needed to substantially climb up the rankings.”

He said that he has called on Malta Enterprise and civil service head Mario Cutajar to conduct a study on how best to tackle the problem, with the hope of Malta climbing up the table in two years’ time.

The Prime Minister pledged to modernise the public sector, warning civil servants that he will be “a thorn in the side” of workers who want to maintain the status quo.

Referring to a recent Green Paper on mobile government, Muscat said that the civil service must shift away from its “prehistoric” online services.

“In this day and age, it is not enough for formulas to be available online for people to print out and hand in to a government department, but people must be able to submit them online as well,” he said. “Moreover, accessing services through computers is becoming passé and it is time to shift our services towards applications on smartphones.”

He defended plans to introduce a ratings system for government department and a ‘mystery shopper’ initiative to test out public service operations.

“I am aware that some people disagree with the mystery shopper initiative as they don’t want their work to be judged on one-off mistakes, but it’s a common practice within the private sector and it’s time for the public sector to catch up,” he said.

He also called for more key performance indicators across the public sector, echoing an earlier statement by Mario Cutajar that “everything that can be measured can be improved upon”.

‘Cheaper energy bills relieve pressure to increase wages’

Earlier on, Muscat said that the reduction on water and electricity bills have relieved pressure on his government to increase wages.

“Cheaper energy bills leave people with more purchasing power, relieving pressure on government to increase wages which would risk stifling the country’s economic competiveness.”