Consumers, workers and landlords will have to be patient as it will take time for businesses to get back onto their feet once they reopen, the Malta Chamber of SMEs has warned. 

The Chamber said that many shop owners would face staffing problems as their employees had to stay home to care for children, as schools are shut. Pressures from landlords who wanted to get paid would also increase, it said. 

Many non-essential retail outlets will be allowed to open their doors to customers as of Monday, as part of revised COVID-19 restrictions announced on Friday. Malta had 468 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Saturday.

The Chamber said the decision was a positive one which the government had spoken to it about before introducing and heralded the change as a “sign of starting to go back to normality”. 

But although encouraging, many unknowns and complications would arise. 

The government had acknowledged that businesses would continue to need help once they reopened, the Chamber said. 

“The opening of businesses as of Monday will require a lot of patience and full cooperation of all stakeholders involved. This is the only way our economy can start getting back on its feet,” it said. 

The Chamber urged shoppers to be patient and respect the rules, workers to be as flexible as possible and landlords to understand that “it is far from a 'business as usual' situation”. 

Policymakers would have to continue listening and reacting as the situation developed, it said.