Speaking at a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN) in Milan, the Minister for Finance Professor Edward Scicluna stated that “while lack of investment is an EU wide problem, there are big EU firms awash with money but with little appetite for investment. At the same time one finds small firms having lots of ideas and energy but no finance. We need proposals to reduce the EU wide reliance on banks for investment.”

The Minister for Finance was attending a two day meeting on 12 and 13 September covering the Euro area Finance Ministers meeting; the Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) and ECOFIN.

Euro area Finance Ministers held an exchange of views on the economic situation in the Euro area and fiscal policy stance. During this session, Minister Edward Scicluna said that the “time for studying tradeoffs between fiscal consolidation, structural reforms, and growth is over. While rules of the Stability and Growth Pact need to be observed, we need to have the right mix of investment, consolidation and structural reforms according to each country’s circumstances.”

The economic importance of the many synergies between 49 ASEM Member Countries and EU Finance Ministers was highlighted. Members were encouraged to work together to restore growth and to raise employment. The strengthening of financial and trade linkages between Europe and Asia to maximize the regions’ gains associated to increased globalization was also discussed.

During the meeting, Minister Edward Scicluna was accompanied by the Governor of the Central Bank of Malta, Professor Josef Bonnici and the Permanent Secretary within the Ministry for Finance, Mr Alfred Camilleri.

– Saturday, 13th September, 2014