Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1248303
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 17 MAY 2020 14 COMMERCIAL SCOOTER 001 SHARING THE PRESENT, SO WE CAN BUILD A BETTER FUTURE. One app. Over 450 shared vehicles. Pay per minute, per hour or per day. goto.com.mt/download * Rate per minute for Scooter trips on the GoTo Business Plan. Terms and Conditions apply. €1.50 PAGE 2 PAGE 5 Silvio Schembri apologises for 'unfortunate' foreign workers comments Banking customers offered home loan moratorium due to Covid-19 THURSDAY 19 MARCH 2020 • ISSUE 50 WWW.BUSINESSTODAY.COM.MT DAVID HUDSON A rescue package worth €1.8 bil- lion has been unveiled to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on the economy. PAGE 3 PAGE 2 Editorial PAGE 9 RIDING OUT THE STORM AND SAVING JOBS Coronavirus Government announces €1.8b rescue package to mitigate crisis Robert Abela BOV registers pre-tax profit of €89.2m • Government to pay companies €350 per employee on quarantine leave • Businesses ordered to shut down temporarily, will receive two days of assistance per week per employee Id-dinja dieħla f'riċessjoni? U Malta? www.illum.com.mt ARA PAĠNI 12 u 13 €1.25 IL-ĦADD 22 TA' MARZU 2020 • NRU 701 'Il-Gvern huwa rrassenjat li se nitilfu x-xogħol. Mentri aħna rridu nsalvawh' 'ROBERT GĦINNA QABEL IKUN TARD WISQ' Il-GWU, l-MHRA, il-GRTU, il-FATTA u l-UĦM mal-ILLUM iwissu li jekk il-Gvern mhux se jħabbar miżuri ġodda se jibdew jingħalqu n-negozji u jintilfu l-impjiegi, speċjalment fit-turiżmu, fir-ristoranti u d-divertiment! ARA PAĠNI 4 u 5 PAĠNI 10 u 11 SUNDAY • 22 MARCH 2020 • ISSUE 1064 • PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SUNDAY €1.95 maltatoday This won't work, Robert EDITORIAL MT2 ROBERT Abela's package does not go far enough and will not work. Malta has entered a war which has destabilised the economy and all its workers. Abela cannot be scared of spending and rack- ing up the necessary government debt needed for a national stim- ulus now: the risks of not acting will be greater than what lies ahead in the next months. He must alleviate economic hard- ship during the epidemic to pre- vent lasting damage to the econ- omy by stopping this recession from turning into the next Great Depression. What Malta needs is a form of universal credit for all, to keep aggregate demand up and so that idle workers at home can return straight to work at the end of the crisis and restore the supply chain. STAY IN, STAY SAFE, WE ARE IN THIS TOGETHER WWW.MALTATODAY.COM.MT/COVID19 Our appeal is simple: Maltese businesses must be sustained by keeping workers in a job with a social insurance that sustains their wages CLAUDIO GRECH 'We cannot allow Maltese businesses to fail. We would be failing society' INTERVIEW MT2 Never before has your support of free and independent journalism been so crucial Support us with a subscription or a donation maltatoday.com.mt/maltatodaydigitaledition THE Emirates Group an- nounced its 32nd consecutive year of profit, against a drop in revenue mainly attributed to reduced operations during the planned DXB runway closure in the first quarter, and the impact of flight and travel restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the fourth quarter. Released in its 2019-20 Annu- al Report, the Emirates Group posted a profit of AED 1.7 bil- lion (US$ 456 million) for the financial year ended 31 March 2020, down 28% from last year. The Group's revenue reached AED 104.0 billion (US$ 28.3 billion), a decline of 5% over last year's results. The Group's cash balance was AED 25.6 bil- lion (US$ 7.0 billion), up 15% from last year mainly due to a strong business performance up to February 2020 and lower fuel cost compared to previous year. Due to the unprecedent- ed business environment from the ongoing pandemic, and to protect the Group's liquidity position, the Group has not de- clared a dividend for this finan- cial year after last year's divi- dend of AED 500 million (US$ 136 million) to the Investment Corporation of Dubai. His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chair- man and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group, said: "For the first 11 months of 2019-20, Emirates and dna- ta were performing strongly, and we were on track to deliv- er against our business targets. However, from mid-February things changed rapidly as the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the world, causing a sudden and tremendous drop in demand for international air travel as countries closed their borders and imposed stringent travel restrictions. In 2019- 20, the further strengthening of the US dollar against major currencies eroded our prof- its to the tune of AED 1.0 bil- lion, global airfreight demand remained soft for most of the year, and competition intensi- fied in our key markets. In 2019-20, the Group collec- tively invested AED 11.7 billion (US$ 3.2 billion) in new aircraft and equipment, the acquisition of companies, modern facil- ities, the latest technologies, and employee initiatives, a de- crease following last year's re- cord investment spend of AED 14.6 billion (US$ 3.9 billion). It also continued to invest re- sources towards supporting communities, environmental initiatives, as well as incubator programmes that nurture tal- ent and innovation to support future industry growth. At the 2019 Dubai Air Show in November, Emirates placed a US$ 16 billion order for 50 A350 XWBs, and a US$ 8.8 billion order for 30 Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft. With first deliveries expected in 2023, these new aircraft will add to Emirates' current fleet mix, and provide deployment flexi- bility within its long-haul hub model. In line with Emirates' long-standing strategy to op- erate a modern and efficient fleet, these new aircraft will al- so keep its fleet age well below the industry average. Emirates posts $456 million profit MeDirect Malta launches mobile app MEDIRECT Malta has launched its Mobile Banking App which allows the bank's clients to view their balances and investments and provide them with the abili- ty to carry out financial transac- tions using their smartphones, while on the move. The app is available on both Android and IOS smartphones, and can be downloaded for free on Google Play and the App Store. The MeDirect Mobile App of- fers clients a convenient way to take control of their finances by viewing their savings account balances and transaction his- tory as well as monitoring the progress of their savings and investments. A donut-shaped chart within the interface give users a quick and clear over- view of their current finances. The app allows users to trans- fer funds between their own accounts and to third parties. One can also add, remove or edit saved beneficiaries, while also copying details such as IBAN and BIC to facilitate the transferring of funds. MeDirect has developed the app in-house and has ensured the highest level of security for its users through the MeCode functionality, which allows one to log in securely onto the on- line banking platform. Users can log in the app and make payments using various bi- ometric technologies such as Touch ID, Face ID or the more traditional 6-digit PIN. The bank will be rolling out app and security updates on a regular basis. The app is availa- ble to all existing and new Me- Direct Malta clients. If one is already a client of the bank, all that is required is to access the online banking platform and link accounts to the app. If one is not a client of MeDirect, they can be guided online on how to open an account with the bank and be able to make use of the mobile app – by clicking on https://onboarding.medirect. com.mt/start More information on the Me- Direct mobile app visit https:// w w w . m e d i r e c t . c o m . m t / m o - bile-app