Manufacturing industry close to tipping point, Chamber president warns

Malta’s manufacturing industry is reaching a tipping point as more and more workers end up in preventive quarantine, the president of The Malta Chamber has claimed.

Perit David Xuereb told BusinessToday that the manufacturing industry, which is already having to deal with vastly reduced orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, could suffer irreperable damage and losses if many more workers end up in preventive quarantine.

“The industry is one of a few where workers cannot work from home and this leaves workers at greater risk of being exposed to coronavirus,” he said. “This is serious.”

Xuereb said that the rising number of active cases - which reached 940 yesterday - highlighted the now-urgent need for more discipline and much better enforcement of measures aimed at mitigating the spread of coronavirus.

“People have become complacent and are letting down their guard, prejudicing the livelihood of many workers,” he said. “Let us not forget that for every active registered, another five people on average end up in preventive quarantine.”

With 100 cases registered in 24 hours, as many as 500 people could end up in quarantine. “Of those, only 50% at best would be able to work from home,” Xuereb said. “What is to happen of the rest?”

As to the 2021 budget, to be presented in Parliament on Monday, Xuereb said that this cannot be a one-year budget but must present longer-term solutions and measures.

“We want government to be courageous and to think of the medium and long term, lest we end up looking back in regret at this busget as a missed opportunity to plan ahead,” he said. “Monday’s budget needs to be a particularly formative budget, which will determine the country’s future during and after this pandemic.”